UN member states condemn US action in Venezuela

The United Nations Security Council's first meeting of 2026 heard a global chorus of UN member states strongly denounce the United States' strike in Venezuela as a grave violation of the UN Charter, though a US representative defended it as a "surgical law enforcement operation".

At Monday's emergency session, Sun Lei, China's deputy permanent representative (chargé d'affaires) to the UN, urged Washington to heed the international community's "overwhelming voice," comply with international law and the UN Charter, halt actions that infringe other countries' sovereignty and security, stop toppling Venezuela's government, and return to dialogue and negotiations as the path to a political solution.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, seized and brought to the US on Saturday following a large-scale US strike in the South American nation, pleaded not guilty in New York federal court to charges of narco-terrorism on Monday.

Sun expressed China's "deep shock" and strong condemnation of what he called the "unilateral, illegal and bullying acts" of the United States, and called for the US to ensure the safety of Maduro and his wife, and to release them immediately.

"The US has placed its own power above multilateralism and military actions above diplomatic efforts," Sun said, warning that such actions pose a grave threat to peace and security in Latin America and the Caribbean and even internationally.

He said the US military strikes "wantonly trampled" upon Venezuela's sovereignty and violated core tenets of the UN Charter, including the principles of sovereign equality, non-interference in internal affairs, peaceful settlement of international disputes, and the prohibition of the use of force in international relations.

"The lessons of history are a stark warning," Sun said, noting that military means are not the solution to international problems and that the indiscriminate use of force would only lead to greater crises.

He cited past US actions, including bypassing the Security Council to launch military operations against Iraq, attacks on Iran's nuclear facilities, and the imposition of economic sanctions, military strikes and armed occupations in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Those actions caused persistent conflict, instability and immense suffering for ordinary people. "Did these actions bring peace and stability? Did they bring development and prosperity?" he asked, saying the international community could see the answers clearly.

The envoy reiterated that China firmly supports the Venezuelan government and people in safeguarding their sovereignty, security and legitimate rights and interests, and supports regional countries in upholding Latin America and the Caribbean as a zone of peace.

He called on the United States to change course, cease bullying and coercive practices, and develop relations and cooperation with regional countries on the basis of mutual respect, equality and noninterference.

Speaking to the UN meeting, US economist Jeffrey Sachs said that the US military action and ongoing pressure violate Article 2, Section 4 of the UN Charter, which prohibits the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state.

Sachs, president of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network and director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, called these actions part of a long-standing US pattern of "covert regime change," citing a historical record of 70 such operations between 1947 and 1989 alone.

"The United States shall immediately cease and desist from all explicit and implicit threats or uses of force against Venezuela," he said.

Closing on a stark warning, Sachs said, "Peace, and the survival of humanity, depends on whether the United Nations Charter remains a living instrument of international law, or is allowed to wither into irrelevance."

At the meeting, Russian UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia also called for the immediate release of Maduro and his spouse.

The Russian envoy called the US' military action in Venezuela a "crime cynically perpetrated" and a harbinger of a return to an era of "lawlessness", stressing that any conflicts must be resolved through dialogue as enshrined in the UN Charter.

"We cannot allow the United States to proclaim itself as some kind of a supreme judge which alone bears the right to invade any country," he told the Council.

The backers of the US military operation in Venezuela, primarily led by the United States and Argentina, framed the action as a law-enforcement/anti-narco-terrorism step and argued it could open a path to restoring democracy.

But representatives of many countries pushed back by arguing that democracy cannot be delivered through force and coercion, and that any political outcome must be decided by Venezuelans through peaceful, lawful means.

For instance, Colombia's UN envoy Zalabata Torres said "democracy cannot be promoted or defended through violence or coercion", and Venezuela deserves to live in peace, in democracy, prosperity and dignity with a government that is defined in sovereignty by no one else than the Venezuelan people and their institutions.

Ambassador Hector Vasconcelos, Mexico's UN envoy, warned that "regime change by external actors and the application of extra-territorial measures" is contrary to international law, and historically, all they have done is exacerbate conflicts and weakened the social and political fabric of nations.

Drawing on Chile's own history, Ambassador Paula Narvaez Ojeda, Chile's UN representative, noted that foreign interference previously caused extreme damage to the nation and stressed that democracy is best recovered through "the strength of organized citizens and through our institutions".

Ambassador Hector Gomez Hernandez, representative of Spain to the UN, said that democracy "cannot be imposed by force" and added that "force never brings more democracy".

Denmark struck a balancing tone, taking note of US statements that the operation aimed to combat drug trafficking, while stressing that such efforts "must be conducted in strict accordance with international law" and the UN Charter.

Even as it said it does not recognize Maduro as Venezuela's legitimate president, Denmark emphasized Venezuelans' right to self-determination "without coercion, pressure or manipulation by external actors", adding that "Venezuela's future can be decided only by the Venezuelans."

In his statement, Brazil's UN ambassador Sergio Franca Danese noted that international norms are "mandatory and universal" and do not allow for exceptions based on ideological, geopolitical or economic interests, such as the "exploitation of natural or economic resources".

The envoy dismissed the argument that "the end justifies the means," saying that such reasoning lacks legitimacy and grants the "strongest the right to define what is just or unjust" while imposing decisions on the weakest.

Representatives from other countries also unanimously emphasized that the US military intervention constitutes a fundamental breach of the United Nations Charter and the principles of sovereign equality.

France's representative pointed out that when a permanent member of the Security Council violates the UN Charter, it "chips away at the very foundation of the international order".

Brazil said the bombings and Maduro's seizure "cross an unacceptable line" and rejected the intervention as a "flagrant violation" of the UN Charter and international law, while South Africa warned that "no nation can claim to be legally or morally superior" to another.

Pakistan said unilateral military action "contravenes these sacrosanct principles", while the A3 group, consisting of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia and Liberia, said full respect for states' sovereignty and territorial integrity under the UN Charter is an essential foundation for international cooperation and peaceful coexistence.