Norway’s foreign minister joined a long list of international experts and national leaders on Saturday in criticizing the US military assault on Venezuela. Norway called the assault “a dramatic escalation” of tensions in the area, just weeks after a Venezuelan opposition leader won the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo.

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre was among those hailing Venezuela’s opposition leader Maria Corina Machado after she arrived in Oslo just a few weeks ago to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. She won the prize for her efforts to restore democracy and the Rule of Law in Venezuela, which was just invaded by the US in what Norway and several other countries now call a violation of the Rule of Law. PHOTO: Franziska Schminke / DIO

Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide noted in a statement released late Saturday afternoon that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his regime “lacked democratic legitimacy.” Eide claimed “the Maduro regime” had also “clung to power” even after it no longer had majority support following a nationwide election in 2024.

Eide stressed how it was “important” for all the facts tied to what many view as a US invasion of Venezuela to come forward. He acknowledged that the Maduro regime had “shown itself to be steadily more authoritarian” and behind “widespread violations of human rights,” but the Norwegian government joined many others from Brazil to Denmark in expressing criticism and concern about how the US resorted to military force and kidnapping.

Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide (left) is shown here with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington last month but disagrees with Rubio on the US sanctions of a UN official. PHOTO: Utenriksdepartementet

Eide, representing Norway’s Labour Party-led government, was clear in claiming that “the American intervention in Venezuela” which included capturing Maduro and and his wife, “is not in line with the Rule of Law” (called folkeretten in Norwegian).

“Folkeretten is universal and applies to all nations,” said Eide in the statement released several hours after Norway and the rest of Europe woke up to the news that US President Donald Trump had ordered what Trump later called “a brilliant military operation” in Venezuela. Both Trump and members of his cabinet confirmed the US had bombed targets in Venezuela, captured Maduro and flown him and his wife to New York, where they’ve been charged with narcotics smuggling, terrorism and conspiracy to import cocaine.

Maduro has been widely condemned as a brutal leader, not least during the recent Nobel Peace Prize events in Oslo after the prize had been awarded to one of Maduro’s most ardent opponents Maria Corina Machado. She had also endured a dramatic escape from Venezuela, where she’d been in hiding, to get to Oslo. She was injured during her escape and stayed on in Oslo to receive medical treatment, but she vowed publicly to return to Venezuela following her treatment for a back injury.

The New Nobel Laureate, Maria Corina Machado, is shown here at a press conference in Oslo last month after she’d won the Nobel Peace Prize. She fully intended to return to Venezuela after receiving medical treatment in Oslo, even before the US removed her homeland’s authoritarian president from office, ironcially by violating the very Rule of Law she seeks to restore in her homeland. She has earlier supported US President Donald Trump, and even dedicated her prize to him. PHOTO: © Nobel Prize Outreach – Helene Mariussen

Both Eide and his boss, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, had praised the independent Norwegian Nobel Committee’s decision to award the prize to Machado because of her work to restore democracy in Venezuela. She also vowed to make sure that the new president elected by Venezuelans in 2024, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, can take office.

Maduro had refused to recognize Gonzalez Urrutia, who’s most recently been living in exile in Spain, as the winner, opting to remain in office himself with support from Russia, China, Iran, North Korea and Cuba. Gonzalez Urrutia was also in Oslo in December, took a bow during the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony and was guest at the Nobel Banquet that evening.

It remained unclear when or whether Machado and Gonzalez Urrutia may be able to return to Venezuela. Machado pointed once again on social media Saturday to Gonzalez Urrutia as the rightful next president of Venezuela. She recently hasn’t been in the running for the post, while expressing gratitude for Trump’s earlier support and even dedicating her Peace Prize to him. While Machado claimed that “Venezuela’s freedom hour had come,” it was unclear whether Trump still supports her, calling her “weak” at one point on Saturday and noting that Venezuela still has a vice-president.

The legitimate winner of the Venezuelan presidency in 2024, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia (bottom left center), his wife and four other South American presidents were in the audience at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo last month. The president of Argentina (blue tie) was among those hailing the US intervention this weekend, while Brazil’s president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, was among the critics. EU officials were awaiting a meeting with US Foreign Minister Marco Rubio. PHOTO: ©Nobel Prize Outreach-Helene Mariussen

Norway itself is now in the awkward position of praising both Machado’s and Gonzalez Urrutia’s efforts to unseat Maduro while criticizing the methods used by the US government, which has long been a close and important ally. Trump has created huge uncertainty, not least with his latest grab for Greenland and refusal to rule out the use of military power also against the US’ own NATO allies.

“A peaceful transition to a democratic government is the only passable way in Venezuela,” said Norway’s Eide. “That involves inclusive political processes that respect citizens’ rights.”

Several other political parties in Norway had also already spoken out against the US’ intervention in Venezuela, on both the left and the right. The Socialist Left and Reds parties were first out with demands for Norway to condemn Trump’s military action, while the Conservative Party’s incoming leader Ine Eriksen Søreide was also critical, while condemning the Maduro regime. The non-socialist Liberal also criticized the US invention in Venezuela, stressing how the international Rule of Law applies to all countries.

A long string of Norwegian foreign policy experts, lawyers and professors had already spoken out against the US military intervention in Venezuela, long before Eide expressed the government’s concerns. “These are two serious violations of the Rule of Law,” Professor Emeritus Geir Ulfstein of the Institute for Public Law at the University of Oslo told Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) Saturday morning. He was referring to both the military attacks on Venezuelan installations and the capture of the Venezuelan president and his wife.

“One of the most fundamental regulations in the Rule of Law is the prohibition of the use of military power against another state,” Ulfstein told NRK. Cecilie Hellestveit, another expert on international law agreed: “What the USA has done is strictly forbidden,” she told NRK. “The USA has no right internationally to carry out the military operations they have now been undertaking.”

Ulfstein drew parallels to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has also been widely condemned as a violation of international law. Russia’s goal, he said, is control over land areas while the US wants seeks regime change. “But both also are using military power to get what they want in another country,” Ulfstein said.

He and many others both in Norway and elsewhere think Trump’s actions must have consequences. “We can’t get anything done in the UN Security Council, since the USA has a veto right there (as does Russia),” Ulfstein said, “but the UN General Assembly and NATO countries should make it very clear that this (the US invasion) is absolutely unacceptable.”

NewsinEnglish.no/Nina Berglund