UN Chief warns of rising instability in Venezuela after US capture of Maduro

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on Monday raised concerns over growing instability in Venezuela following the US capture of President Nicolás Maduro, even as the United States said it does not plan to occupy the Latin American country.

He said he was “deeply concerned that rules of international law have not been respected with regard to the 3 January military action.”

The 15-member Security Council met at UN headquarters in New York just hours before Maduro was due to appear in a Manhattan federal court on drug charges, including narco-terrorism conspiracy. Maduro has denied any criminal involvement.

“I am deeply concerned about the possible intensification of instability in the country, the potential impact on the region, and the precedent it may set for how relations between and among states are conducted,” Guterres said in a statement delivered to the Council by UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo.

The UN Secretary-General said he has consistently stressed “the imperative of full respect, by all, for international law, including the Charter of the United Nations, which provides the foundation for the maintenance of international peace and security.”

He noted that the UN Charter enshrines the prohibition of the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, adding that the maintenance of international peace and security depends on the continued commitment of all Member States to adhere to its provisions.

Pointing out that the situation is critical, Guterres said it is still possible to prevent a wider and more destructive conflagration.

US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz told the Security Council that the United States carried out “a surgical law enforcement operation facilitated by the US military against two indicted fugitives of American justice,” referring to Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.

“As Secretary of State, Marco Rubio has said, there is no war against Venezuela or its people. We are not occupying a country,” Waltz said, as he laid out the US case against Maduro before the Security Council.

On January 3, Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodríguez declared a nationwide emergency, granting expanded security powers to the government amid rising tensions.

Calling for restraint, Guterres urged all Venezuelan stakeholders to “engage in inclusive and democratic dialogue to determine the country’s future,” stressing the need to “uphold human rights, the rule of law, and the sovereign will” of the Venezuelan people.

He also appealed to neighboring countries and the broader international community to act in solidarity and in strict adherence to international law, emphasizing that peaceful solutions, not force, must guide efforts to resolve the crisis.