Venezuelan leader lands in New York to face charges as world leaders weigh in
Ousted Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro has arrived in New York to face US criminal charges as UK authorities back a transition of power in the oil-rich South American nation.
US President Donald Trump confirmed the country’s leader and his wife, Cilia Flores, had been flown out of Caracas and indicted on “narco-terrorism” charges following strikes early on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer insisted his Labour administration will “shed no tears” over the end of Maduro’s regime and said Britain would discuss the “evolving situation” with American counterparts over the coming days.
The operation followed months of pressure from Washington on the country, which Mr Trump said America would run until a “safe, proper and judicious transition” could take place.
In a statement on Saturday evening, Sir Keir said: “The UK has long supported a transition of power in Venezuela.
“We regarded Maduro as an illegitimate president and we shed no tears about the end of his regime.
“I reiterated my support for international law this morning.
“The UK Government will discuss the evolving situation with US counterparts in the days ahead as we seek a safe and peaceful transition to a legitimate government that reflects the will of the Venezuelan people.”
An emergency meeting of the UN Security Council has been scheduled for Monday.
Sir Keir earlier refused to be drawn on whether the military action broke international law, saying he wanted to talk to Mr Trump, with whom he had not spoken on Saturday morning, and allies to “establish the facts”.
Around 500 UK nationals are in Venezuela and work is ongoing to “safeguard” them, the Prime Minister said, while the Foreign Office advised against all travel to the country.
Speaking to reporters hours after Maduro’s capture, Mr Trump revealed his plans to exploit the leadership vacuum to “fix” the country’s oil infrastructure and sell “large amounts” of the fuel to other countries.
In a post on his Truth Social platform shortly before addressing the media, he posted an image which appeared to show the autocratic leader blindfolded aboard the US warship Iwo Jima and headed to New York.
The attack saw explosions ring out and low-flying aircraft sweep through the Venezuelan capital early on Saturday.
US Attorney General Pam Bondi said on X that Maduro had been indicted on charges of narco-terrorism conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices and cocaine importation conspiracy.
The Prime Minister faced calls from Labour backbenchers, as well as opposition politicians, to condemn the military action and take a tougher stance on the US president.
Early on Sunday, the White House’s rapid response account on X posted a video appearing to show Maduro handcuffed and escorted by law enforcement agents.
The video was captioned “perp walked”.
Sir Keir’s statement on Saturday evening came after European leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian premier Giorgia Meloni both similarly called for a democratic transition.
In a statement via his spokesman, the UN secretary-general voiced concerns that the rules of international law had not been respected.
Shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel earlier said “nobody will shed tears” over the Venezuelan president being “removed”.
The Tory frontbencher said: “We have always strongly condemned Maduro’s brutal and repressive regime and the Conservative government did not consider Maduro’s administration as legitimate.
“Nobody will shed tears for him being removed.
“We await the full facts about the US operation which has removed Maduro and we want to see the Venezuelan people enjoy democratic norms and freedoms.
“This is clearly a very serious geopolitical moment.”
Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey called on the Prime Minister to rebuke what he called the US leader’s “illegal action” in Venezuela, adding: “Maduro is a brutal and illegitimate dictator, but unlawful attacks like this make us all less safe”.
Green Party leader Zack Polanski claimed the US president believed he could “act with impunity”.
“The PM and Foreign Secretary should be condemning this illegal strike and breach of international human rights law,” he said.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage claimed the US’s “unorthodox” military operation in Venezuela could prove a deterrent to future Russian and Chinese aggression.
Venezuela’s highest court has ordered vice president Delcy Rodriguez to assume the role of interim president, according to The Associated Press.
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Did anyone know anything, much less care, about Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela before he and his wife were taken by someone we DO know a lot about, Donald J ‘act with impunity’ Trump? With or without knowledge, this act is illegal, against international law (something I recognise) and amounts to false imprisonment. Next question. Is ANY country safe from this? Answer: NO.
Will the UK government shed a tear when Trump steals Venezuela’s oil and mineral resources? Will it shed a tear when he enforces his despotic will on Greenland? Will it shed a tear when he annexes Canada?
Just what does it take for this government to shed a tear?
If there is one word that sums up the tiny, tinpot, dying British Empire now, it is ‘complicity’, oh, another word, ‘compliance’, oh, another word, ‘appeasement’. We heard a lot about the last word, historically, in relation to Hitler. This time, we have their political parties, media outlets and unpaid gullible foot soldiers forcing us into appeasement and takeover which begs the question, why did we bother resisting Hitler? We were right to do so but when the situation is now replicating, people dying in millions, taking over of countries by invasion with ours under threat also with traitors offering… Read more »
UK has bent the knee it seems. Tory as expected do what Donny says as does farage, latter are both in the GOP and Project 2025 pocket. Starmer is just weak.
Anyone thinks there will free and fair election in Venezuela? Trump wont allow that, he now owns it. He also let out the Honduran ex pres that was done for trafficking. Trump is a thug and is coming for you.
See where farage will go?
Will a US imposed puppet government be any improvement…I doubt it. It will facilitate the rabid asset stripping of the country of its natural resources.
It is entirely predictable that Trump will act like the playground bully he has shown himself to be, disregarding accepted standards of international behaviour. Starmer should have immediately condemned this in these terms. However, Starmer has shown himself previously to be weak, particularly towards Trump, caving in on a wide range of issues such as Internet Safety and Digital Taxes, when these are opposed by Trumps broligarch paymasters. Now Trump is openly acting to promote the interests of his funders in the oil industry. Farage thinks this will act as a deterrent to Russia and China? In their minds, this… Read more »
Where have we seen this before??
Oh, that’s right, when the us created isis.
Will the UK have to have hundreds of troops slaughtered in a decades time to help with the mess America created?
I’ve had enough of these “leaders”. They are either corrupt or a real pain in the ar*e wanting to engage in wars and causing complete devastation on 99.9% of the people who just want to get on with a normal life. Get shot of the bloody lot of them I say and let’s get on with our daily lives. We are all only here for a short time in the grand scheme of things and during that time we have tos*pots who want to spoil everything.
What planet is Farage on if he believes this action will deter further Russian or Chinese aggression? Quite the opposite, unauthorized, illegal bullying is right up their street. Starmer needs to get a backbone.
So Farage believes this will deter other countries? All except Russia and China I think.
Putin now can go for other territories using the same claims that Trump has used.
Atlantic reporting trump threatening the vice president if she doesn’t play ball, or worse will happen to her.
quicker than i expected.