Representatives of multiple countries on Monday strongly condemned the U.S.' military attack on Venezuela during an emergency open meeting of the United Nations Security Council, calling on Washington to respect international law and the Charter of the United Nations.
U.S. military forces carried out attacks and bombings in Caracas and other parts of Venezuela in the early hours of Saturday and forcibly took the country's President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, before putting them in custody in New York.
The move has shocked the international community and sparked serious concerns worldwide, while U.S. President Donald Trump claimed that his administration would now 'run' Venezuela and even did not rule out launching a second round of military operations on an even larger scale.
Addressing the UN Security Council meeting, professor Jeffrey Sachs from Columbia University noted that Washington's long-standing obsession with overthrowing governments in other countries poses a serious threat to the international order. He emphasized that the international community must uphold international law and respect the UN Charter.
"The costs of all of this have been devastating through these dozens and dozens of U.S. regime-change operations. And that's why we have a UN charter. Because if powerful countries take law into their own hands without rules, we have international anarchy. And the realists that describe the world as 'international anarchy' freely admit that it leads to the tragedy of great power politics," Sachs said in an interview with the China Global Television Network (CGTN) on the same day.
Other speakers at the UN meeting voiced grave concern over the impact of the U.S. action on regional stability and the risks it poses to international order.
"The act carried out by the U.S. in Caracas constituted a criminal offense with no justification whatsoever. We firmly condemn the U.S. armed aggression against Venezuela, which violated all norms of international law. Nebenzia called on the United States to immediately release Nicolas Maduro, the lawfully elected president of an independent country, and his spouse," said Vassily Nebenzia, Russia's permanent representative to the UN.
"The U.S. military attack against Venezuela has no justification whatsoever, it does not respond to any provocation, or does it possess legitimacy. It's based on the aberrant doctrine of peace through force and undermines the stability and peace that have characterized our Latin America and Caribbean Region for years," said Ernesto Soberon Guzman, Cuba's permanent representative to the UN.
Brazil's permanent representative to the UN Sergio Franca Danese said historical experience has repeatedly shown that external armed intervention often brings about profound and long-lasting negative consequences. He added that armed intervention against a sovereign state must be strongly condemned.
Mexico's permanent representative to the UN, Hector Vasconcelos, strongly denounced the military aggression carried out against Venezuelan territory, saying the act clearly violated Article 2 of the UN Charter -- which prohibits the threat or use of force in international relations -- and has dealt a serious blow to multilateralism and the fundamental principles of the UN.
Jaime Hermida Castillo, Nicaragua's permanent representative to the UN, said in his statement that Latin America and the Caribbean constitute a zone of peace, as officially declared by the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), reflecting the common will of the peoples and governments of the region.
He stressed that the Venezuelan people are a dignified people with the right to independently safeguard their sovereignty and right to peace, adding that any form of external interference is unacceptable.
Meanwhile, ahead of the meeting, South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Ronald Lamola, said the unilateral military strikes taken by the U.S. against Venezuela, as well as the forcible control of President Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores, constituted serious violations of Venezuela's sovereignty and independence, and run counter to the fundamental principles of international law and the UN Charter.
Int'l community urges respect for int'l law, UN Charter following US attack on Venezuela
