UN Security Council to meet after US action in Venezuela
UN Security Council to meet January 5 after US action in Venezuela that removed President Nicolas Maduro, with Antonio Guterres warning it sets a “dangerous precedent”, Reuters reports.
The UN Security Council is set to meet on Monday, January 5, after the United States launched a military operation in Venezuela and deposed President Nicolas Maduro, a move that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres regards as setting “a dangerous precedent”, according to diplomats.
Diplomatic sources said the meeting was requested by Colombia, with backing from Russia and China. The 15-member council has already met twice — in October and December — as tensions between Washington and Caracas escalated.
"This is a colonial war aimed at destroying our republican form of government, freely chosen by our people, and at imposing a puppet government that allows the plundering of our natural resources, including the world’s largest oil reserves," Venezuela's UN Ambassador Samuel Moncada wrote to the UN Security Council on Saturday.
He argued the US had breached the UN Charter, which requires member states to refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any country.
Guterres’ spokesperson, Stephane Dujarric, said the overnight US military action amounted to a dangerous precedent and reiterated the Secretary-General’s call for full respect for international law, including the UN Charter.
Reuters reported that the Trump administration has spent months targeting suspected drug-trafficking vessels off Venezuela and along the Pacific coast of Latin America, expanding its military footprint in the region and announcing a blockade of ships subject to US sanctions. It also intercepted two tankers carrying Venezuelan crude last month.
In October, the United States said its actions were consistent with Article 51 of the UN Charter, which deals with self-defence and requires the Security Council to be informed immediately of measures taken in response to an armed attack.
US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz wrote on X that the operation was “not regime change” but “justice”, describing Maduro as an indicted, illegitimate dictator who led a declared narco-terrorism organisation and was responsible for killing American citizens.
