The South African government has called on the UN Security Council, the body mandated to maintain international peace and security, to urgently convene to address the situation in Venezuela.
This is after the US conducted “a large-scale military strike” against Venezuela and captured President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, who were flown out of the country yesterday.
The department of international relations & cooperation spokesperson Chrispin Phiri said Pretoria viewed US actions as a manifest violation of the UN Charter, which mandates that all member states refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state.
Phiri said the charter did not authorise external military intervention in matters that were essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of a sovereign nation.
“History has repeatedly demonstrated that military invasions against sovereign states yield only instability and deepening crisis. Unlawful, unilateral force of this nature undermines the stability of the international order and the principle of equality among nations,” he said.
Trump announced on his Truth social media platform on Saturday morning that the US had successfully carried out a large-scale strike against Venezuela and Maduro, whom it had captured, along with his wife, and flown out of the country. “This operation was done in conjunction with US law enforcement,” he said.
It won’t cost us anything because the money coming out of the ground is very substantial. The oil companies are going to go in; they’re going to spend money there. Then we’re going to take back the oil that, frankly, we should have taken back a long time ago
— US President Donald Trump
Trump later told journalists Maduro was in custody and that American officials would take control of Venezuela until a proper transition takes place. “We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,” he said.
”We can’t take a chance that someone else takes over Venezuela who doesn’t have the interests of Venezuelans in mind.”
Asked how the US will run Venezuela and whether it will send troops to that country, Trump said: “We are not afraid of boots on the ground if we have to. We had boots on the ground last night at a very high level, actually. We’re not afraid of it.”
He said the people that were standing behind him were going to run Venezuela for some time. “It won’t cost us anything because the money coming out of the ground is very substantial. The oil companies are going to go in; they’re going to spend money there. Then we’re going to take back the oil that, frankly, we should have taken back a long time ago,” said Trump.
“A lot of money is coming out of the ground. We’re going to get reimbursed for all of that. We’re going to get reimbursed for everything that we spent.”
US attorney-general Pamela Bondi tweeted on Saturday that Maduro was indicted in New York, facing the charges of narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, and possession of machine guns and destructive devices against the US.
Maduro has been president since 2013.
Trump’s critics in the US questioned the legality of the strikes against Venezuela. Congressional Democrats have questioned the legality of Trump’s operation in Venezuela as it was not approved by Congress.
“Trump rejected our constitutionally required approval process for armed conflict because the administration knows the American people overwhelmingly reject risks pulling our nation into another war,” said senator Andy Kim on X.
America’s critics have said the events in Venezuela had nothing to do with narcotics but that the Trump administration was after that country’s oil. Venezuela holds the largest proven oil reserves on earth.
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