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By Miriam Raftery
Photo Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro aboard USS Iwo Jima after his capture, via U.S. Dept. of War
January 4, 2025 (San Diego) – Without notifying Congress and in apparent violation of international law, President Donald Trump ordered airstrikes and a ground raid on Venezuela’s capital city that resulted in capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Madura and his wife, Cilia Flores, overnight. Both have been transported to the U.S. to face charges of alleged drug trafficking.
Some civilians reportedly died in the bombings and some U.S. service members were injured.
Trump, in a press conference, Trump announced that the U.S. will “run” Venezuela and takeover the country’s oil production. Venezuela has more proven oil reserves than any other nation on earth. The president said he is not averse to "boots on the ground" but did not clarify how he intends to run Venezuela's government or oil facilities over the objections of its interim leader.
Maduro, an authoritarian strongman and socialist whom Biden accused of stealing an election, is unpopular with U.S. elected officials on both the left and right. But disapproving of a regime does not grant any nation the right to initiate military action against another country, let alone forcibly remove and arrest a nation’s leader. Legal scholars and members of Congress have argued that the action violated both U.S.and international law.
The military action dubbed “Absolute Resolve” included 150 aircraft launched to dismantle Venezuela’s air defenses, enabling military helicopters to deliver troops to Caracas to capture Maduros and his wife, according to General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Videos posted online showed smoke billowing from multiple locations around Caracas including La Carlota Airport. Trump called the action “an assault like people have not seen since World War II” in a press conference yesterday.
Action violates international law and U.S. laws for acts of war
But the action appears to violate the United Nations Charter’s article 2(4), which states that nations must refrain from using military force against other countries and must respect their sovereignty, as well as violating the U.S. Constitution, which requires a president to consult with Congressional leaders before an act of war.
Geoffrey Robertson, former president of the UN war crimes court in Sierra Leone, said that in attacking Venezuela, America “America is in breach of the United Nations charter. It has committed the crime of aggression, which the court at Nuremberg described as the supreme crime, it’s the worst crime of all,” the Guardian reports.
Susan Breau, a professor of international law and a senior associate research fellow at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, told the Guardian 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-defense. “There is just no evidence whatsoever on either of those fronts,” she stated.
Congressional Democrats say that Congress should have been notified in advance. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said, "Maduro is terrible. But Trump put American servicemembers at risk with this unauthorized attack."
The U.S. Constitution states that the power to declare war rests with Congress, not the president. Congress passed the 1973 War Powers Resolution, which calls on the President “in every possible instance” to consult with Congress before introducing U.S. armed forces into hostilities. Under federal law, eight bipartisan, senior members of Congress must receive prior notice of particularly sensitive covert actions. The President must to report to Congress within 48 hours of introducing the U.S. military into hostilities and terminate the use of the military within 60 days unless Congress approves.
Trump did not seek approval from Congress, nor even provide prior notification to bipartisan Congressional leaders before earlier bombing numerous Venezuelan ships which Trump claimed without evidence were carrying drugs. he Trump administration has struck at least 32 vessels killing about 115 people in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific Ocean since September.
The White House even contradicted itself. A month ago, on November 2, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles told Vanity Fair when asked about Venezuela that if Trump “were to authorize some activity on land, then it’s war,” adding that this would require “Congress.”
Venezuela’s interim leader denounces action
Delcy Rodriguez, who was vice president under Maduro, has been sworn in as interim president. In an address to Venezuela’s people yesterday, she accused the U.S. of invading on false pretenses and “kidnapping” Maduro, and demanded his return.
“We are determined to be free,” she said. ”What is being done to Venezuela is a barbarity.” She accused the Trump administration of invading under false pretenses to implement a regime change that “would also allow for the seizure of our energy, mineral and natural resources. That is the true objective, and the world and the international community must know it.”
In response, Trump issued a threatening statement. “All political and military figures must realize that what happened to Maduro can happen to them,” he said in a press conference.
World leaders react
The U.S. military attack on Venezuela and arrest of its president has drawn mostly condemnation from world leaders, and concerns from some that other countries could be targeted next.
Mexico’s foreign ministry issued a statement condemning the action, adding, “Mexico makes an urgent call to respect international law, as well as the principles and purposes of the U.N. charter, and to cease any act of aggression against the Venezuelan government and people,” reads the statement posted on X by Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum. Mexico’s former Senate president Gerardo Fernandez Noroña went further, calling Maduro “a prisoner of war.”
Spain’s foreign ministry called for “de-escalation and restraint,” offering to mediate toward a peaceful solution.
Columbian President Gustavo Petro posted on X that he is deploying forces to Columbia’s border with Venezuela to support an anticipated “massive influx of refugees.” He stated that he “rejects the aggression against the sovereignty of Venezuela and of Latin America.”
European Union Council president Antonio Costa has called for de-escalation in Venezuela and a “peaceful, democratic and inclusive solution for the country.”
“This morning, the United States carried out an act of armed aggression against Venezuela. This causes deep concern and condemnation,” Russia said in a statement from its Foreign Ministry. The irony is inescapable, given that Russia, a Maduro ally, has itself instigated armed aggression in its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
Congressional reactions
The startling military attack on a sovereign nation drew praise from some Republicans, but criticism from even some MAGA Republican members as well as prominent Democrats and independents.
Marjorie Taylor Greene, a MAGA Republican, accused Trump of abandoning his promise to end overseas wars. “This is what many in MAGA thought they voted to end. Boy, were we wrong,” said Greene, who is retiring next week.
Locally, Rep. Darrell Issa, a Republican and staunch Trump supporter, praised the action. “Our elite military have again performed brilliantly with total effectiveness, and minimum loss of life. They are the best-trained, best-equipped, and bravest in the world,” he posted on X, adding that Trump “has taken strong action to protect America’s homeland from neighboring threats of narcoterrorism and the scourge of deadly narcotics. The Trump Administration has my full support.”
But San Diego's Democratic representative Sara Jacobs denounced the action. “Kidnapping President Maduro in a regime change operation won’t help protect the people,” she posted on Facebook, noting that Venezuela plays “virtually no role in producing or trafficking fentanyl,” the deadliest illicit drug in the U.S. “Instead, this military operation violates both domestic and international law, risks blowback and retaliation on U.S. service members and the American people, and entangles the United States in yet another costly and unnecessary war by the President who campaigned on ending them.”
Senator Jim Hines, the top Democrat on the Houses Intelligence Committee, said yesterday that while Maduro was an “illegitimate ruler” there is no evidence that he posed a threat justifying military intervention in Venezuela. “The administration must immediately brief Congress on its plan to ensure stability in the region and its legal justification for this decision,” the Connecticut Senat stated.
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent democratic socialist, condemned the action. “Donald Trump has, once again, shown his contempt for the Constitution and the rule of law. The President of the United States does NOT have the right to unilaterally take this country to war, even against a corrupt and brutal dictator like Maduro. The United States does NOT have the right, as Trump stated this morning, to “run” Venezuela. Congress must immediately pass a War Powers resolution to end this illegal military operation and reassert its constitutional responsibilities,” Sanders posted on his website.
He warned, “This brazen violation of international law gives a green light to any nation on earth that may wish to attack another country to seize their resources or change their governments. This is the horrific logic of force that Putin used to justify his brutal attack on Ukraine. Trump and his administration have often said they want to revive the Monroe Doctrine, claiming the United States has the right to dominate the affairs of the hemisphere. They have spoken openly about controlling Venezuela’s oil reserves, the largest in the world. This is rank imperialism. It recalls the darkest chapters of U.S. interventions in Latin America, which have left a terrible legacy. It will and should be condemned by the democratic world.”
The Senate plans a vote next week on a resolution to block further U.S. military action against Venezuela absent authorization by Congress, though it remains to be seen whether the House will follow suit.
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/01/03/world/trump-united-states-strikes-venezuela
https://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/venezuela-explosions-caracas-intl-hnk-01-03-26
https://www.war.gov/Multimedia/Videos/videoid/992132/
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