US military action against Venezuela draws widespread condemnation

The U.S. military strikes on Venezuela and the capture of President Nicolas Maduro have drawn sharp rebuke from experts, officials and concerned people around the world.

On Jan 3, the U.S. launched military operations in Venezuela, resulting in the capture of Maduro and his wife. The Venezuelan government reported that the strikes targeted civilian and military sites in at least four states, including Caracas, Miranda, Aragua, and La Guaira. According to Venezuela's interior ministry on Jan 7, the attacks left at least 100 dead.

Tendai Mbanje, a regional governance expert at the African Center for Governance in Johannesburg, South Africa, warned that these brazen actions create a heightened sense of insecurity globally.

"It is a message that the U.S. has sent to the world that the U.S may decide to invade weaker nations if they do so with impunity, and this makes the world that we live in an unsafe world," he said.

Jaime Quito, a congressman from Peru, denounced the U.S. invasion of Venezuela and the kidnapping of its president, emphasizing that no country should act as the world's police or judge.

"Peru firmly and strongly condemns the U.S. invasion of Venezuela. We condemn the U.S. for kidnapping the President of Venezuela and attempting to carry out a trial against him. The immediate priority should be to respect sovereignty and international law. No country can act as the world's police or judge. On the contrary, the right of self-determination of all peoples must be respected. We reject and condemn such actions, which are almost terrorism in nature, as well as the illegal conduct of the U.S. in this sovereign nation of Venezuela," he said.

In Spain, thousands gathered outside the U.S. Embassy in Madrid on January 4 to express their outrage over the U.S. military action in Venezuela and the capture of Maduro.

"I think that the USA and Trump think that any government, any country that is not on his side, they can bomb them or invade them or threaten them. They have also threatened right now Mexico, Colombia, of course, Cuba. So it's a threat to all Latin America and of course a threat to all the countries in the world," said Elena Martinez, one of the protesters.

US military action against Venezuela draws widespread condemnation

The death toll from a landfill collapse in the central Philippine city of Cebu has risen to eight by Monday morning as search and rescue operations continued for another 28 missing people.

The landfill collapse occurred on Thursday as dozens of sanitation workers were working at the site. The disaster has already caused injuries of 18 people.

Family members of the missing people said the rescue progress is slow, and the hope for the survival of their loved ones is fading.

"For me, maybe I’ve accepted the worst result already because the garbage is poisonous and yesterday, it was raining very hard the whole day. Maybe they’ve been poisoned. For us, alive or dead, I hope we can get their bodies out of the garbage rubble," said Maria Kareen Rubin, a family member of a victim.

Families have set up camps on high ground near the landfill, awaiting news of their relatives. Some people at the site said cries for help could still be heard hours after the landfill collapsed, but these voices gradually faded away.

Bienvenido Ranido, who lost his wife in the disaster, said he can't believe all that happened.

"After they gave my wife oxygen, my kids and I were expecting that she would be saved that night because she was still alive. But the night came and till the next morning, they didn't manage to save her," he said.

Death toll in central Philippine landfill collapse rises to eight