World leaders slam 'illegal' US raid on Venezuela as Maduro seized

Global fury erupts over US military strike

Washington’s shock dawn raid on Caracas has ignited a diplomatic firestorm, with President Nicolás Maduro in US custody and capitals from Moscow to Mexico City denouncing what many are calling an outright act of war.

The moment everything changed

Satellite images show US special-operations aircraft slicing through Venezuelan airspace at 04:13 local time. Within 90 minutes, the presidential palace—Miraflores—was under direct assault. By sunrise, a grainy Pentagon-released photo showed a handcuffed Maduro aboard an American C-17 bound for an undisclosed location.

‘This is a coup dressed up as counter-narcotics,’ Venezuelan Vice-President Delcy Rodríguez told emergency UN session. ‘Venezuela will resist.’

Allies vs adversaries: instant split-screen

• Russia: President Putin ordered naval drills in the Caribbean within hours, warning of ‘crippling asymmetrical retaliation.’
• China: Beijing froze ministerial talks on climate cooperation, labeling the operation ‘a textbook violation of UN Charter Article 2(4).’
• European Union: A tense Brussels meeting produced only a tepid call for ‘maximum restraint,’ exposing deep fractures—Poland and the Baltic states quietly back Washington; France and Spain push for UN-led mediation.
• Regional neighbors: Colombia granted US overflight; Mexico, Brazil and Argentina recalled ambassadors, while leftist-led Bolivia vowed to lodge an ICC complaint.

Oil markets reel

Brent crude spiked 14 % to $97.40 a barrel, its biggest intraday leap since 2022. Traders fear tit-for-tat Hormuz-style disruptions in the Caribbean if Venezuela’s navy carries out threats to ‘intercept energy shipments to the imperial north.’

Domestic reverberations

In Washington, congressional leaders received closed-door briefings as the phrase ‘forever war’ trended on both ends of the political spectrum. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) broke ranks, calling the action ‘an unconstitutional stretch of the 2001 AUMF.’ Progressive Democrats introduced an emergency bill to cut military aid to Colombia if Bogotá continues logistical support.

What happens next?

UN Secretary-General Guterres demanded an immediate Security Council session, yet both Moscow and Washington vowed vetoes, leaving multilateral diplomacy in limbo. Analysts warn the standoff could harden into a new ‘Caribbean Crisis,’ 62 years after the Cuban missile episode.

‘The US has shredded the last vestige of hemispheric non-intervention,’ said former Mexican ambassador Arturo Sarukhán. ‘We’re back to gunboat diplomacy.’

As night fell over Caracas, sporadic gunfire echoed and opposition activists—many who once cheered regime change—now nervously eye the skies, wondering whether tomorrow will bring American boots or Venezuelan reprisals.