President Donald Trump points to a reporter to ask a question during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, January 3, 2026, in Palm Beach, Fla.
DONALD TRUMP’S unprovoked attack on Venezuela and his kidnapping of its President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, to face trumped-up drug-trafficking charges in New York, are an outrage against international law and the sovereignty of nation states.
They confirm that the undisguised seizure of other countries’ resources is to be the new normal for the outlaw regime in Washington — and, in line with its National Security Strategy published in November, that it will act to break every government in Latin America that pursues an independent foreign or domestic policy.
Trump’s accusations that the Venezuelan state is involved in drug-trafficking — which have already led to the murder of well over 100 seafarers on boats in the Caribbean and Pacific — have been levelled too at the Mexican government, and Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro.
While bragging about his plans for Venezuela on Saturday Trump indicated that socialist Cuba is also something “we’ll end up talking about,” while his rants about Venezuela having “stolen” (that is, taken into public ownership) oil reserves that had been exploited by US corporations logically put any country that wants control of its natural resources on Washington’s menu.
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The US secretary of defence, Pete Hegseth, and Donald Trump at a press conference after the US strike on Venezuela. The US can veto any UN move to impose sanctions. Photograph: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
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Is the US operation in Venezuela justified under international law?
The experts the Guardian spoke to agreed that the US is likely to have violated the terms of the UN charter, which was signed in October 1945 and designed to prevent another conflict on the scale of the second world war. A central provision of this agreement – known as article 2(4) – rules that states must refrain from using military force against other countries and must respect their sovereignty.
Geoffrey Robertson KC, a founding head of Doughty Street Chambers and a former president of the UN war crimes court in Sierra Leone, said the attack on Venezuela was contrary to article 2(4) of the charter. “The reality is that America is in breach of the United Nations charter,” he added. “It has committed the crime of aggression, which the court at Nuremberg described as the supreme crime, it’s the worst crime of all.”
Elvira Domínguez-Redondo, a professor of international law at Kingston University, described the operation as a “crime of aggression and unlawful use of force against another country”. Susan Breau, a professor of international law and a senior associate research fellow at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, agreed that the attack could have only been considered lawful if the US had a resolution from the UN security council or was acting in self-defence. “There is just no evidence whatsoever on either of those fronts,” Breau said.
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A woman watches a public television broadcast by Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino in Caracas, Venezuela on January 03, 2026. (Photo by Boris Vergara/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“It is brutal imperialist aggression,” said former Bolivian President Evo Morales.
The Trump administration’s military assault on Venezuela and apparent abduction of the country’s president in the early hours of Saturday morning sparked immediate backlash from leaders in Latin America and across the globe, with lawmakers, activists, and experts accusing the US of launching yet another illegal war of aggression.
Latin American leaders portrayed the assault as a continuation of the long, bloody history of US intervention in the region, which has included vicious military coups and material support for genocidal right-wing forces.
“This is state terrorism against the brave Venezuelan people and against Our America,” Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel wrote in a social media post, demanding urgent action from the international community in response to the “criminal attack.”
Evo Morales, the leftist former president of Bolivia, said that “we strongly and unequivocally repudiate” the US attack on Venezuela.
“It is brutal imperialist aggression that violates its sovereignty,” Morales added. “All our solidarity with the Venezuelan people in resistance.”
Colombian President Gustavo Petro, one of the first world leaders to respond to Saturday’s developments, decried US “aggression against the sovereignty of Venezuela and of Latin America.” Petro said Colombian forces “are being deployed” to the nation’s border with Venezuela and that “all available support forces will be deployed in the event of a massive influx of refugees.”
“Without sovereignty, there is no nation,” said Petro. “Peace is the way, and dialogue between peoples is fundamental for national unity. Dialogue and more dialogue is our proposal.”
The presidents of Chile and Mexico similarly condemned the assault as a violation of Venezuela’s sovereignty and international law.
“Based on its foreign policy principles and pacifist vocation, Mexico urgently calls for respect for international law, as well as the principles and purposes of the UN Charter, and to cease any act of aggression against the Venezuelan government and people,” the Mexican government said in a statement. “Latin America and the Caribbean is a zone of peace, built on mutual respect, the peaceful settlement of disputes, and the prohibition of the use and threat of force, and therefore any military action puts regional stability at serious risk.”
One Latin American leader, far-right Argentine president and Trump ally Javier Milei, openly celebrated the alleged US capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, declaring on social media, “FREEDOM ADVANCES.”
Leaders and lawmakers in Europe also reacted to the US bombings. Pedro Sánchez, the prime minister of Spain, issued a cautious statement calling for “deescalation and responsibility.”
British MP Zarah Sultana was far more forceful, writing on social media that “Venezuela has the world’s largest oil reserves—and that’s no coincidence.”
“This is naked US imperialism: an illegal assault on Caracas aimed at overthrowing a sovereign government and plundering its resources,” Sultana added.
This story has been updated to include statements from the presidents of Chile and Mexico.
Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes’ concept of democracy. Front Orca warns that Trump is crashing his country’s economy and that everything he does he does for the fantastically wealthy.
President Donald Trump points to a reporter to ask a question during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, January 3, 2026, in Palm Beach, Fla.
