U.N. Security Council Condemns U.S. Action in Capture of Venezuela’s Maduro

At an emergency meeting at U.N. headquarters in New York, delegates condemned the United States for what even some allies called a violation of international law in the capture of Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro and a U.S. military incursion into a sovereign state. The deputy French ambassador said the assault and Mr.

Maduro’s apprehension “chips away at the very foundation of international order,” and U.N. Secretary‑General António Guterres said the Trump administration had violated the U.N. charter. Colombia’s ambassador likened the operation to past eras of American interference, and Russia and China demanded the release of Mr.

Maduro and his wife and called for a halt to any further U.S. military action. Several countries, including Bahrain, Brazil and Mexico, also called the action a violation of the charter, while Britain and Latvia voiced more cautious comments. The U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Mike Waltz, defended the operation as a law enforcement action, saying there was “no war against Venezuela or its people” and calling Mr.

Maduro a narcotics fugitive rather than a head of state. The Security Council meeting coincided with Mr. Maduro and his wife being arraigned in federal court in Lower Manhattan, where they pleaded not guilty; Mr. Maduro told a judge he had been “kidnapped” during a U.S. military raid on Caracas.

Key Topics

World, Nicolás Maduro, Caracas Raid, U.n. Security Council, U.n. Charter, Lower Manhattan