Jack K – LVI
On the 3rd of January 2026 President Maduro of Venezuela was “kidnapped” by Delta Force
(American special forces). The orders were put out by the department of war and Donald
Trump the American President. With help from the CIA and over 150 support aircraft Delta
Force entered Fuerto Tiuna which is Venezuela’s largest military facility holding many
government officials and is heavily fortified. The power grid and air defenses were both shut
down in order to aid Delta Force commandos, with them apparently finding and arresting
Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores before they could close the door on their secure
steel bunker. The two were transported by the USS Iwo Jima to the United States with
Maduro being transported to Manhattan federal court in New York City on January 5th.
Maduro is being charged with narco-terrorism, cocaine importation, weapons possession
and other charges. In December last year Trump classified fentanyl as a weapon of mass
destruction. This is being used as an excuse by the Trump administration on why they
captured Maduro as fentanyl is a big illegal trade in Venezuela.
So is this actually legal, well under international law article 2 subsection 4 “All Members shall
refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial
integrity or political independence of any State, or in any other manner inconsistent with the
Purposes of the United Nations.” This means any country under the United Nations cannot
breach a country’s sovereignty by force which just happened to Venezuela, But there are 2
exceptions to this law being the right to self defense or the UN security council voting if the
country is a threat to international peace. Trump did not have the allowance by the UN
Security Council to capture Maduro and take over Venezuela so that only leaves self
defense. In order to preach self defense a country would have to be hit by an armed attack
and use appropriate and proportional force to retaliate against the attacker. America is
currently arguing self defense on the terms that the attack on Venezuela was a preemptive
strike to halt the loss of American life through drugs imported by Venezuela though only
around 5% of cocaine is exported out of Venezuela to America.
Trump and his Team are saying that domestic legal rationale on self defense overpowers the
international laws view on self defense. This is seen in an interview with Marco Rubio the
Secretary of State saying their justification for taking over Venezuela and abducting Maduro
is that it was passed by a US court order allowing US law enforcement to arrest Maduro.
This is not the first time this has happened either with the US invading Panama in 1989 and
capturing its dictator Manuel Noriega. The US Justice Department released a document
some time ago stating that article 2(4) of international law does not stop the president from
authorising forcible abductions. This just shows America’s main argument that this isn’t war
but merely an arrest that follows US law and international law does not apply.
Countries around the world have commented on Maduro’s abduction with France, Spain,
Russia, China and many other countries condemning the US for a clear violation of
international law against Venezuela but countries like Israel, Argentina and The United
Kingdom actually does support the capture of Maduro as Kier Starmer describes Maduro as
an illegitimate leader due to Maduro remaining in power after losing election. Though Kier
has not taken a side on the control of Venezuela by the US, Kier would like to have a
leadership election for Venezuela.
In conclusion the US actively broke international law with the take over of Venezuela and the
capture of Maduro though it is very complicated and there is yet to be a fully clear statement
from the United Nations on America’s actions and even so the United Nations would
probably not do anything about it as ordering the US to return Maduro would be foolish as he
is a dictator and would go straight to power again due to his many loyalists. What’s most
likely to come out of this is a condemnation from the UN to the US about the takeover of
Venezuela and if the US continues to hold Venezuela the UN might have to intervene due to
the clear motives of oil in Venezuela. There is no simple answer to the legality of Maduro’s
capture due to the complexity of this situation, only thing that I can say is that America has
broken international law but have too much power to receive consequences.