Venezuela operation was legitimate law-enforcement action, US envoy to UN says

The US Permanent Representative to the UN, Mike Waltz, said during a UN Security Council meeting that the United States was not waging a war against Venezuela or its people and was not occupying the country, describing the operation as a lawful law-enforcement action based on long-standing legal charges.

He stated that Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro was responsible for attacks on US citizens, destabilization in the Western Hemisphere, and the unlawful repression of the Venezuelan people.

Waltz added that Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, had been brought to the United States to face legal proceedings over their alleged crimes. He noted that a grand jury in the Southern District of New York had indicted Maduro on serious charges related to narco-terrorism, drug trafficking, and international arms trafficking.

The US envoy also emphasized that Maduro lacked legitimate presidential authority, arguing that his continued hold on power was based on manipulation of the electoral system. He pointed out that a UN electoral assessment mission had concluded two years earlier that the 2024 elections were entirely rigged and failed to meet basic standards of transparency and fairness.

According to Waltz, after the elections, Maduro refused to step down peacefully and became a fugitive from justice. He described him as the head of a violent foreign terrorist organization known as the Cartel de los Soles, which he said cooperated with other criminal groups, including Tren de Aragua, designated by the United States as a foreign terrorist organization.

The diplomat stressed the international scale of the threat posed by these groups and the Venezuelan regime, saying they were involved in murders, kidnappings, extortion, human trafficking, drug trafficking, and arms smuggling, and that Tren de Aragua carried out hostile activities against US territory either directly or under the direction of the Maduro regime.

Waltz also highlighted Maduro’s alleged cooperation with international terrorist organizations, including Hezbollah, as well as the misuse of Venezuela’s oil resources. He argued that it was unacceptable for some of the world’s largest energy reserves to remain under the control of US adversaries and illegitimate leaders while failing to benefit the Venezuelan people and instead enriching a small group of oligarchs.

In addition, he recalled that numerous UN bodies and international human rights organizations had documented serious human rights violations by the Maduro regime, including extrajudicial killings, politically motivated imprisonment, torture, and unlawful detention.

Waltz said that more than 8 million Venezuelans had been forced to flee the country, creating the largest migration crisis in the world. He explained that the United States sought a better future for the Venezuelan people, the region, and the world, adding that millions of Venezuelans who had escaped the regime were celebrating Maduro’s fall worldwide.

He further noted that US President Donald Trump had repeatedly offered Maduro opportunities for de-escalation. According to Waltz, Trump gave diplomacy a chance and proposed several off-ramps, all of which Maduro refused to take.

He concluded by saying that Trump had made it clear that narco-terrorism must end, and that the United States would not retreat from defending Americans against it while continuing to seek peace, freedom, and justice for the Venezuelan people.