US broke the law by abducting, charging Venezuela President

Demonstrators hold signs in support of ousted Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro outside the Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States Courthouse on January 5, 2026 in New York. [AFP]

The US government’s forceful abduction of Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro and wife Cilia Flores in January read like the plot of a political thriller. While public resignation may have replaced initial shock and disbelief, that incident dominated international policy debate this week.

At least 150 US military aircraft were involved in multiple bombings across Caracas. Scores of people were killed and civilian and military infrastructure destroyed. The subject of the attack, the forcible capture of the President and his wife, was neither authorised by the UN Security Council nor justified as an act of self-defence.