UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres raised concerns on Monday about a possible intensification of instability in Venezuela after the US capture of the Latin American country’s president Nicolas Maduro.
“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 political affairs chief Rosemary DiCarlo.
Guterres also said in the statement that he was concerned that the US operation to capture Maduro in Caracas early on Saturday did not respect the rules of international law.
“I welcome and am ready to support all efforts aimed at assisting Venezuelans in finding a peaceful way forward,” he said in the statement.
U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz told the Security Council the United States carried out “a surgical law enforcement operation facilitated by the U.S. 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,” said Waltz, as he laid out the U.S. case against Maduro at the Security Council.
“We’re not going to allow the Western Hemisphere to be used as a base of operation for our nation’s adversaries,” Waltz said. “You cannot continue to have the largest energy reserves in the world under the control of adversaries of the United States, under the control of illegitimate leaders, and not benefiting the people of Venezuela.”
Venezuela’s U.N. Ambassador Samuel Moncada called the U.S. operation to capture Maduro “an illegitimate armed attack lacking any legal justification.” Moncada told the council that Venezuelan institutions are functioning normally, constitutional order has been preserved, and the state exercises effective control over all of its territory.
Guterres called on all Venezuelan actors to engage in an inclusive and democratic dialogue, adding: “I welcome and am ready to support all efforts aimed at assisting Venezuelans in finding a peaceful way forward.”
