Tag Archives: maduro

It’s not the done thing for the leader of a powerful country  to send his people in to arrest the leader of another country, regardless of how awful a human being he is and ship him and his wife back to said powerful country to face trial.

I am not an expert in international law, but this does not seem to follow any kind of due process.

One of the most depressing things about the first year of the second Trump presidency is that Trump and his officials have got away virtually unchecked with horrific abuses of process carried out by his administration particularly in the treatment of immigrants, whether they have documents or not.

Congress has been unwilling to hold him accountable for misuse of his presidential powers over tariffs.

And the international community has treated him with cloying obsequity in the hope of getting a few crumbs from his table.

This is by far the least of the administration’s outrages, but when its Vice President comes over here and attacks this country and European neighbours for suppressing freedom of speech and gets the hospitality of our Deputy PM rather than the riposte he deserves, it is a pretty sad state of affairs.

What Trump should have had from across the world today is a chorus of condemnation. What he’s had is some vapid word salad from Keir Starmer:

Asked if he condemned the US action, as a number of other UK politicians have, he told reporters he wanted to “establish facts” and speak to Trump first about the “fast moving situation”.

The EU’s top diplomat pulled her punches too, though at least she acknowledged the illegality. From the BBC:

The European Union’s top diplomat said the situation in Venezuela was being closely monitored.

Kaja Kallas said the EU had repeatedly stated that Maduro “lacks legitimacy” but defended a peaceful transition.

She said that “under all circumstances, the principles of international law and the UN Charter must be respected”.

Ed Davey, on the other hand, has been a lot more robust:

Keir Starmer should condemn Trump’s illegal action in Venezuela.

Maduro is a brutal and illegitimate dictator, but unlawful attacks like this make us all less safe.

Trump is giving a green light to the likes of Putin and Xi to attack other countries with impunity.

Just imagine if Xi ordered his troops to arrest Lai Ching-te, the leader of Taiwan.

Or if Putin went in to Kyiv and nabbed Zelensky.

Other Lib Dem MPs have also commented.

Al Pinkerton said:

As if the recent US National Security Strategy wasn’t clear enough, today’s illegal invasion and kidnapping in Venezuela sends a stark signal to dictators everywhere: force works.

That is a lesson Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping will be only too happy to learn — and one for which we may all end up paying a very high price.

Make no mistake: Nicolás Maduro is a brutal and illegitimate leader. But that does not and cannot justify acting unilaterally, without allies, and outside international law.