{"id":351127,"date":"2026-01-04T04:53:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-04T04:53:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/351127\/"},"modified":"2026-01-04T04:53:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T04:53:08","slug":"is-there-any-legal-justification-for-the-us-attack-on-venezuela-venezuela","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/351127\/","title":{"rendered":"Is there any legal justification for the US attack on Venezuela? | Venezuela"},"content":{"rendered":"

Donald Trump said on Saturday morning that US troops had carried out a \u201clarge-scale strike\u201d on Venezuela<\/a> and captured its president, Nicol\u00e1s Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores. The couple has now been indicted in New York on terrorism and drugs charges. Trump has accused Maduro of running a \u201cnarco terrorist organisation\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, the legality of the operation has been called into question \u2013 with even some of Trump\u2019s allies suggesting it violated international law.<\/p>\n

The Guardian spoke to leading experts in the field of international law to ask for their view on the unfolding events in Venezuela<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Is the US operation in Venezuela justified under international law? <\/p>\n

The experts the Guardian spoke to agreed that the US is likely to have violated the terms of the UN charter, which was signed in October 1945 and designed to prevent another conflict on the scale of the second world war. A central provision of this agreement \u2013 known as article 2(4) \u2013 rules that states must refrain from using military force against other countries and must respect their sovereignty.<\/p>\n

Geoffrey Robertson KC, a founding head of Doughty Street Chambers and a former president of the UN war crimes court in Sierra Leone, said the attack on Venezuela was contrary to article 2(4) of the charter. \u201cThe reality is that America is in breach of the United Nations charter,\u201d he added. \u201cIt has committed the crime of aggression, which the court at Nuremberg described as the supreme crime, it\u2019s the worst crime of all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elvira Dom\u00ednguez-Redondo, a professor of international law at Kingston University, described the operation as a \u201ccrime of aggression and unlawful use of force against another country\u201d. Susan Breau, a professor of international law and a senior associate research fellow at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, agreed that the attack could have only been considered lawful if the US had a resolution from the UN security council or was acting in self-defence. \u201cThere is just no evidence whatsoever on either of those fronts,\u201d Breau said.<\/p>\n

How is the US likely to defend its actions? <\/p>\n

The US may try to argue that it attacked Venezuela in self-defence, to counter the alleged threat from the \u201cnarco terrorist organisation\u201d it accuses Maduro of leading. Both the UN charter and its own domestic laws make some provision for the use of military force in self-defence.<\/p>\n

However, Robertson said: \u201cThere is no conceivable way America can claim, although no doubt it will, that the action was taken in self-defence. If you are going to use self-defence you have to have a real and honest belief that you are about to be attacked by force. No one has suggested that the Venezuelan army is about to attack the United States \u2026 The idea that [Maduro] is some sort of drug supremo cannot prevail against the rule that invasion for the sake of regime change is unlawful.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TrumpTrump says US is \u2018going to run\u2019 Venezuela after overnight strikes \u2013 video<\/p>\n

\u201cYou would have to prove those drug traffickers were threatening the sovereignty of the United States,\u201d Breau added. \u201cThe United States is going to argue vigorously that drug trafficking is a scourge and it\u2019s killing many people, and I agree. But a lot of international law experts have been looking at this and there wasn\u2019t even clear evidence that those drug traffickers were from Venezuela, let alone that they were governed by Maduro in any sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

What sanctions could the US face for its actions?<\/p>\n

The UN security council can impose sanctions on countries in an attempt to maintain peace. These can include trade restrictions, arms embargos and travel bans. However, five members of the council \u2013 the US, China, Russia, the UK and France \u2013 have a veto on this, meaning any action taken against the US is unlikely to come into force.<\/p>\n

\u201cSanctions have to be imposed by the security council and America is a member with a veto,\u201d Robertson said. \u201cThis is important, because it shows the security council is a worthless body. A country which breaks international law can avoid condemnation simply by vetoing it \u2026 the only body that can act will be eviscerated by the American veto.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dom\u00ednguez-Redondo described the situation as \u201cimpossible\u201d. \u201cIf the security council cannot decide on sanctions, the countries can choose whether or not to follow them,\u201d she said. \u201cBecause the US has veto power, the sanctions are never going to be decided there.\u201d<\/p>\n

What precedent could this set globally?<\/p>\n

If the US faces no consequences for the invasion of Venezuela, experts believe it could embolden other countries to carry out operations which may contravene international law.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe most obvious consequence is that China will take the opportunity to invade Taiwan,\u201d Robertson said. \u201cThis is the most appropriate time for it to do so, bolstered by the precedent of Trump\u2019s invasion of Venezuela and of course his appeasement of Russia in its invasion of Ukraine. In fact, I would say that Trump\u2019s invasion of Venezuela is the crime of aggression, the same crime Putin has committed<\/a> by invading Ukraine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dom\u00ednguez-Redondo added that it could further weaken the UN security council. \u201cThe security council was the prevention mechanism for the third world war,\u201d she said. \u201cThis has been completely dismantled, mainly by the US, but also by the UK when they went to war without authorisation in Iraq. The security council has been eroded.\u201d<\/p>\n

Where does Trump\u2019s attack leave US allies? <\/p>\n

The UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, has said he wants to speak to Trump and other allies to establish the facts of the Venezuela operation but stressed that the UK was not involved in the invasion and has said he believes \u201cwe should all uphold international law\u201d. Other Nato member states will also be closely observing how events unfold.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe United Kingdom, as a guardian of the Nuremberg principles, has a duty to condemn the United States for this breach of international law,\u201d Robertson said. \u201cI would say that leaders who start wars are responsible for the death and destruction that comes in their wake.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a responsibility on Keir Starmer \u2013 who has played a straight bat so far, and rightly hasn\u2019t commented when the facts are not known fully \u2013 but it is likely this duty will devolve on him, to stand up for the Nuremberg principles, to condemn Trump for his breach of them by committing the crime of aggression and lead the free world in trying to moderate consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Donald Trump said on Saturday morning that US troops had carried out a \u201clarge-scale strike\u201d on Venezuela and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":351128,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-351127","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=351127"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351127\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/351128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=351127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=351127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=351127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}