South Africa urges UN to censure US over Venezuela raid

South Africa has urged the UN Security Council to take decisive action against the United States after American forces stormed Venezuela and captured President Nicolás Maduro and his wife. Delivering Pretoria’s statement at Monday’s emergency council meeting, acting deputy permanent representative Jonathan Passmoor said the Jan. 3 military raid and abduction violated Venezuela’s sovereignty and the United Nations Charter and therefore required a firm response.

He warned that allowing one state to enforce its domestic laws in another country risked normalising a return to “might makes right.” Eyewitness News first reported South Africa’s call for tough UN action.

Passmoor told fellow diplomats that history shows foreign military interventions often deepen crises rather than solve them, citing conflicts in Libya and Iraq. He stressed that allegations of governance failures or human‑rights abuses by a head of state do not justify breaching the UN Charter’s prohibition on the use of forces.

International law gives states exclusive jurisdiction over people on their territory, he said, so arresting a leader without consent is “an unlawful violation of sovereignty”. The envoy added that the UN was created to prevent war; failing to uphold those principles would invite anarchy and normalise military interventions. “The future of Venezuela must be determined by the Venezuelan people themselves,” he said.

Regional condemnation and calls for dialogue

The raid drew widespread criticism across Latin America and Europe. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva described the U.S. attack and seizure of Maduro as crossing “an unacceptable line” and a “grave affront to Venezuela’s sovereignty,” urging a “vigorous” UN response.

Lula noted that Brazil, which had refused to recognise Maduro’s disputed 2024 election victory, still believed disputes should be resolved through dialogue. A joint communiqué by Spain, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Uruguay said the U.S. operation violated the UN Charter’s ban on force and respect for territorial sovereignty and warned it set a dangerous precedent for peace and regional stability.

The signatories insisted Venezuela’s future should be settled by dialogue and “the will of the Venezuelan people, without interference”.

Neighboring Colombia compared the raid to past military meddling in the region, while Mexico described it as a breach of the UN Charter.

European leaders struck a cautious tone: France’s Emmanuel Macron said any transition must be peaceful and democratic, the European Commission urged a solution that respects international law, and Spain aligned with left‑leaning governments in Latin America, saying Madrid could not recognise an intervention that violated international law.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, speaking to social‑media influencers in Kampala, said the operation highlighted the need for African countries to strengthen their defence capabilities and avoid the vulnerability exposed in Latin America.

US claims law enforcement, not regime change

U.S. officials framed the mission as a law‑enforcement operation to arrest an indicted trafficker rather than a regime‑change invasion. At the UN meeting, U.S. ambassador Mike Waltz said there was “no war against Venezuela” and no occupation.

He argued the air and ground assault was a tool to execute long‑standing indictments and that the United States had apprehended “a narcotrafficker who is now going to stand trial … in accordance with the rule of law”. In a social‑media post he added, “This is not regime change this is justice”. Secretary‑General António Guterres said he was deeply concerned that international law had not been respected and warned that the action could set a dangerous precedent.

Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, appeared in a Manhattan federal court on Jan. 5. They pleaded not guilty to narco‑terrorism, cocaine‑importation conspiracy and weapons charges and said they had been kidnapped, with Maduro declaring through an interpreter: “I am innocent … I am still president of my country”. The judge set a trial date for March 17. Reuters reported that Maduro’s defence team plans to contest the legality of his abduction.

Venezuela’s appeal to the UN

Venezuela’s U.N. ambassador, Samuel Moncada, called the raid a “colonial war” aimed at imposing a puppet government and plundering the country’s resources. Addressing the Security Council, he warned that tolerating the kidnapping of a head of state and bombing of a sovereign country would send a message that law is optional and that force governs international relations.

Such acceptance, he said, would open the door to a “deeply unstable world”. He urged the council to demand that Washington release Maduro and his spouse.

As the crisis unfolded, Venezuela’s vice‑president Delcy Rodríguez was sworn in as interim president in Caracas. Washington has suggested it will oversee Venezuela until a “safe, proper and judicious transition” can occur, but details remain vague. The UN Security Council is scheduled to meet this week to consider the matter.

South Africa and its allies argue that how the council responds will signal whether the international order still rests on agreed rules or whether unilateral force will shape future relations.

Source: Eyewitnes News