Paris \u2014 FRA
Paris, France, Jan 3, 2026 : The US military operation that led to the seizure of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Saturday sparked alarm across the international community, with allies and foes of Washington and Caracas expressing disquiet.
US President Donald Trump said Maduro and his wife would be taken to New York to face federal charges after military strikes and an operation which he described as looking like a \u201ctelevision show.\u201d
The Venezuelan government decried what it termed a \u201cextremely serious military aggression\u201d by Washington and declared a state of emergency.
Countries such as Russia and Iran, which had longstanding ties with Maduro\u2019s government, were quick to condemn the operation but their alarm was also shared by Washington\u2019s allies including France and the EU.
Here is a rundown of the main reaction.<\/p>\n
– Russia –<\/p>\n
Russia demanded the US leadership \u201creconsider its position and release the legally elected president of the sovereign country and his wife.\u201d<\/p>\n
– China –<\/p>\n
Beijing said \u201cChina is deeply shocked and strongly condemns the US\u2019s blatant use of force against a sovereign state and its action against its president.\u201d<\/p>\n
– Iran –<\/p>\n
Iran, which Trump bombed last year, said it \u201cstrongly condemns the US military attack on Venezuela and a flagrant violation of the country\u2019s national sovereignty and territorial integrity.\u201d<\/p>\n
– Mexico –<\/p>\n
Mexico, which Trump has also threatened with military force over drug trafficking, strongly condemned the US military action in Venezuela, saying it \u201cseriously jeopardizes regional stability.\u201d<\/p>\n
– Colombia –<\/p>\n
Colombian President Gustavo Petro \u2014 whose country neighbors Venezuela \u2014 called the US action an \u201cassault on the sovereignty\u201d of Latin America which would lead to a humanitarian crisis.<\/p>\n
– Brazil –<\/p>\n
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva slammed the US attacks as a \u201cserious affront\u201d to Venezuela\u2019s sovereignty.<\/p>\n
– Cuba –<\/p>\n
Cuba, a strong ally of Venezuela, denounced \u201cstate terrorism against the brave Venezuelan people.\u201d<\/p>\n
– Spain –<\/p>\n
Spain offered to mediate in the crisis to find a way to a peaceful solution, while calling for \u201cde-escalation and restraint.\u201d
– France –<\/p>\n
France condemned the US operation, saying it undermined international law and no solution to Venezuela\u2019s crisis can be imposed from the outside.<\/p>\n
– EU –<\/p>\n
The EU more generally expressed concern at the developments and urged respect for international law, even as it noted that Maduro \u201clacks legitimacy.\u201d
EU candidate country North Macedonia, along with fellow Balkan nations Albania and Kosovo, backed Washington, however.
\u201cWe stand with the United States and the Venezuelan people for freedom and democracy,\u201d North Macedonia FM Timco Mucunski said on X.<\/p>\n
– Britain –<\/p>\n
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said all countries should \u201cuphold international law\u201d and added that \u201cthe UK was not involved in any way in this operation\u201d as he urged patience in order to \u201cestablish the facts.\u201d<\/p>\n
– Italy –<\/p>\n
In a rare expression of support for the US operation by a major European country, far-right Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni \u2014 a Trump ally \u2014 argued the US military action in Venezuela was \u201clegitimate\u201d and \u201cdefensive.\u201d<\/p>\n
– Israel –<\/p>\n
Israel also hailed the operation, saying Washington acted as the \u201cleader of the free world.\u201d<\/p>\n
– Ukraine –<\/p>\n
Ukraine \u2014 dependent on US support in its war against invading Russia \u2014 did not address the legality of a big country like America using military force against a much smaller one like Venezuela.
Foreign minister Andriy Sybiga instead focused on Maduro\u2019s lack of legitimacy and the Venezuelan government\u2019s repression, while backing \u201cdemocracy, human rights, and the interests of Venezuelans.\u201d<\/p>\n
– South Africa –<\/p>\n
South Africa, which Trump accuses of alleged discrimination \u2014 and even \u201cgenocide\u201d \u2014 of minority white Afrikaners, said: \u201cUnlawful, unilateral force of this nature undermines the stability of the international order and the principle of equality among nations.\u201d<\/p>\n
– UN –<\/p>\n
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was \u201cdeeply alarmed\u201d by the US strikes, with his spokesman quoting him as saying it could \u201cconstitute a dangerous precedent.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paris \u2014 FRAParis, France, Jan 3, 2026 : The US military operation that led to the seizure of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":671898,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5312],"tags":[2000,299,104],"class_list":{"0":"post-671897","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-spain","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-spain"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115833144802299879","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=671897"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671897\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/671898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=671897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=671897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=671897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}