January 6, 2026
DHAKA – We are shocked by US President Donald Trump’s decision to kidnap Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, fly them over, and try the couple in a US court for “narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices against the United States.” Following Saturday’s attack on Venezuela, Trump also declared that the US will “run” the country until a “judicious” power transition occurs. He further declared that US oil giants will rush to Venezuela to “fix oil infrastructure, and start making money for the country.”
But as Matthew Waxman, professor of law at Columbia University, told Reuters, “A criminal indictment alone does not provide authority to use military forces to depose a foreign government…” Rebecca Hamilton, a law professor at American University in Washington, DC, told DW that bringing the Venezuelan president before a court violates the international rule of law around the immunity of a head of state. “He can’t be brought before a US domestic court,” she said.
US legalities aside, Trump’s actions to capture a foreign country’s president, proclaim that the US will run Venezuela, and extract its resources for the benefit of the occupier represent a blatant disregard for other countries’ rights and a fundamental violation and disrespect of international laws and norms. The US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s warning to global leaders not to “play games” with President Trump, terming him a “president of action” who will address direct threats to US national interest, is also a grave and worrisome warning to the rest of the world: follow what we say or be ready for consequences.
The UN Secretary-General António Guterres has rightly warned that this action by the US administration sets a “dangerous precedent” where a militarily powerful country can create havoc for a militarily weaker country and literally capture its resources for its own greedy ends. Ever since World War II, a certain international legal system was put in place—with the US being a significant player—through the United Nations, international courts, global instruments, and international and regional conventions to create a functioning global order for peace, international trade, investment, and mutual prosperity for both big and small countries. One of the main purposes of this system was to ensure the “sovereignty” of all countries so that peace and order at the global level are assured, and invasions of other countries are never repeated. Trump’s action is a serious violation of that international legal system, a system on which much of present-day global prosperity depends.
We call on the international community to come together to condemn this blatant disregard for international laws and norms, which also left at least 40 people dead on Venezuelan soil. World leaders must urge a legal and peaceful solution to this crisis. Finally, we hope that Trump’s action does not embolden other superpowers to think that now is the time to realise their own power-hungry ambitions.