The United Nations is once again facing questions over its relevancy and ability to shape global events following the United States’ Jan. 3 attack on Venezuela and capture of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Monday held an emergency meeting on the attack, shortly before Maduro and Flores were arraigned in a Manhattan federal court where they pleaded not guilty. Though the United States faced fierce criticism from a number of countries on the council, the body is powerless to take any steps to punish Washington for its actions. As one of the five permanent members of the UNSC, the United States can veto resolutions and would undoubtedly block any such steps. The situation, similar to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, has exposed the international community’s limitations when it comes to confronting unilateral military actions taken by powerful countries.
The United Nations is once again facing questions over its relevancy and ability to shape global events following the United States’ Jan. 3 attack on Venezuela and capture of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Monday held an emergency meeting on the attack, shortly before Maduro and Flores were arraigned in a Manhattan federal court where they pleaded not guilty. Though the United States faced fierce criticism from a number of countries on the council, the body is powerless to take any steps to punish Washington for its actions. As one of the five permanent members of the UNSC, the United States can veto resolutions and would undoubtedly block any such steps. The situation, similar to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, has exposed the international community’s limitations when it comes to confronting unilateral military actions taken by powerful countries.
Though Maduro is widely viewed as an undemocratic and illegitimate leader responsible for fostering regional instability and the suffering of millions, which many governments have acknowledged in recent days in their reactions to the Venezuelan leader’s capture, a number of countries—and Democratic lawmakers in Washington—have still condemned the U.S. operation as a brazen, reckless step that violates both domestic and international law.
Along these lines, in a statement to the council delivered by U.N. political affairs chief Rosemary DiCarlo at the onset of Monday’s meeting, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said he was “deeply concerned that rules of international law have not been respected” with regard to the U.S. military operation on Jan. 3. “The power of the law must prevail,” Guterres said, while expressing consternation over the uncertainty swirling around Venezuela’s future and the potential for the country to be further destabilized.
Colombia, which neighbors Venezuela and is concerned about the potential for a major influx of refugees due to the U.S. actions, has been especially critical of the Trump administration as the situation has unfolded. The country requested the emergency Security Council session on Monday.
“There is no justification whatsoever, under any circumstances, for the unilateral use of force to commit an act of aggression,” Colombian U.N. Ambassador Leonor Zalabata said to the Security Council on Monday. “Such actions constitute a serious violation of international law and the United Nations Charter.”
Acknowledging the uncomfortable reality facing the United Nations, the Colombian ambassador also questioned what the role of the Security Council is when a country, particularly a permanent member of the body, disregards international law. “We are accepting that the law and the interests of the strongest prevail over multilateralism and over agreements that we have forged with dialogue and diplomacy in this very chamber,” Zalabata warned.
Though the Trump administration maintains that the operation was lawful, it occurred without authorization from the U.S. Congress or the U.N. Security Council. Critics also say the operation was launched without any clear, imminent threat to the United States.
The Trump administration has accused Maduro of being a “narcoterrorist” responsible for trafficking deadly drugs to the United States, but it has presented little to no evidence to back up these allegations. Mike Waltz, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, on Monday defended the U.S. attack as a “surgical law enforcement operation” and said that the “overwhelming evidence” of Maduro’s “crimes will be presented openly in U.S. court proceedings.”
The strongest criticism that the United States faced during Monday’s emergency session unsurprisingly came from its top adversaries, China and Russia, which both called on Washington to release Maduro and his wife.
Vasily Nebenzya, the Russian ambassador to the U.N., said that the U.S. attack and capture of Maduro marked “a turn back to the era of lawlessness.” The Russian ambassador’s condemnation of the United States came as his country continues to pummel Ukraine with strikes as part of a war that the United Nations also failed to prevent and has struggled to play any meaningful role in ending.
Washington’s allies on the council generally avoided criticizing the United States during the meeting, perhaps in an effort to avoid Trump’s wrath. Trump in recent days has made incendiary comments toward both friends and foes, aiming various threats at a wide range of countries, including Iran, Colombia, Cuba, and Mexico. The president has also rattled the Danish government by reiterating his desire to annex Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark.
Christina Markus Lassen, the Danish ambassador to the U.N., issued a veiled rebuke of Trump in her comments to the council on Monday. “The inviolability of borders is not up for negotiation,” Lassen said in remarks that were indicative of the unease permeating the United Nations at present.
When asked in a press briefing on Monday whether the United Nations is facing an identity crisis as it contends with challenges ranging from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to the unilateral attack on Venezuela by the United States, Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for the U.N. chief, said, “There is no identity crisis for the secretary-general. Our identity is rooted in the [U.N.] Charter, in international law, in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.”
But Dujarric said that it’s legitimate to question member states on how “they respect and uphold the laws and the charters they themselves have put into play,” adding that Guterres has emphasized that international law is not an a la carte menu but prix fixe.
“Member states created this organization to save future generations from the scourge of war. We need member states to uphold this organization and its values for the sake of future generations,” Dujarric said.
