US attack on Venezuela aims to gain control of oil: former Bolivian diplomat

A former Bolivian diplomat has branded the United States' strike against Venezuela and capture of President Nicolas Maduro as an act of imperial aggression aimed at looting the Latin American country's natural resources and gaining geopolitical control.

U.S. military forces carried out a series of attacks and bombings in Caracas and other parts of Venezuela in the early hours of Saturday and forcibly seized President Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, before putting them in custody in New York.

The move has shocked the international community and raised serious concerns worldwide, with U.S. President Donald Trump saying 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.

While the U.S. claims to have charged Maduro under "narco-terrorism" offenses, Sacha Llorenti, the former Bolivian Ambassador to the United Nations, was clear in his view that ulterior motives are at play.

"This aggression is not about human rights, freedom, democracy or a fight against drug dealing. This aggression is about imperialism. This aggression is about the control of natural resources. What the world has witnessed is one of the worst aggressions in this century. It is not an isolated case because the United States has a long history of these kind of actions against the sovereignty of countries. Since the year 2000, we have witnessed at least seven cases in which [the U.S.] military or undercover operations have violated the sovereignty of countries," Llorenti said in an interview with the China Global Television Network (CGTN).

He believes that the Venezuela situation is the latest in a long series of campaigns launched by U.S. in order to obtain oil.

"This is part of a long history of aggressions against the peoples of the world, because the United States has the mentality through which they [believe they] own the whole world. They are after the natural resources of, in this case, Venezuela, which, as we know, has the biggest oil reserves in the whole world. When Iraq was invaded in 2003, Iraq had the biggest oil reserves in the world. When Libya was attacked, Libya had the biggest oil reserves in the whole continent of Africa. So, what we are seeing is a pattern of aggression against sovereign nations. And their purpose is not just natural resources, but also geopolitical -- [they want] geopolitical control. They want to control Latin American because they see it as their backyard," he said.

The U.S. military operation has triggered strong reactions across Latin America, with leaders in the region criticizing the unilateral action and accusing the Trump administration of disregarding international law and global order, a view which is echoed by Llorenti.

"The United States does not have any regard to international law, as we have seen. They don't see the United Nations as a venue to gather countries and to solve problems. They see it as an obstacle. They have a long history of human rights and international law violations. If the International Criminal Court would be impartial, it would have the means to solve these kinds of issues," he said.

US attack on Venezuela aims to gain control of oil: former Bolivian diplomat

Taoiseach of Ireland Micheal Martin, who wrapped up his five-day official visit to China, has praised China's progress in areas such as digital economy and green energy, saying Ireland is willing to deepen economic and trade cooperation with China in emerging sectors while enhancing cooperation on multilateral affairs.

It is Martin's first visit to China since taking office and the first by an Irish prime minister in 14 years.

Speaking during a joint interview with Chinese media outlets in Beijing, Martin spoke positively of the steady development of bilateral relations in recent years, highlighting closer people-to-people exchanges and growing ties in higher education.

"We now have a direct flight between Dublin and China and that's very important in terms of people to people. Our education links are very strong and we have many partnerships between Irish higher education institutions and Chinese higher education institutions and that's important," he said.

Martin said economic and trade ties remain a key pillar underpinning the sound development of bilateral relations.

He recalled that bilateral trade has seen exponential growth since his first visit to China 20 years ago, when he served as minister for enterprise, trade and employment.

Looking ahead, he expressed expectations for expanded cooperation with China in such emerging fields as digital economy and green transition.

"We will be embarking on a major investment in offshore renewables over the next decade. We already are in the planning process. It's a windy island, so we have a lot of wind to harness for energy. So we do see opportunities in AI as well. Ireland is a very strong location for investment, as a member of the European Union, the only English-speaking country now in the Eurozone and in the European Union. And it's a good access point to the European consumer market. We believe there's a greater opportunity for Chinese companies to locate in Ireland," he said.

As Ireland is set to assume the rotating presidency of the European Union (EU) in the second half of 2026, Martin said Ireland adopts a pragmatic policy towards China within the EU and stays committed to promoting a EU-China relationship framework that effectively manages differences while expanding mutually beneficial cooperation.

"What is important is that we continue to dialogue and see can we develop frameworks of agreement on the big picture. The WTO is also very important forum for resolving trade issues. Both Europe and China would acknowledge that industrial resilience, economic security issues are important issues, but that has to be balanced with an open free trade environment. So we are against tariffs. We think tariffs are ultimately damaging to the world economy," he said.

At the invitation of Chinese Premier Li Qiang, Martin paid an official visit to China from Jan 4 to 8. In addition to Beijing, he also visited Shanghai.

Irish Taoiseach sees broader cooperation with China in emerging sectors