The United Nations Security Council is set to hold an emergency meeting on the 5th to discuss the U.S. military action against Venezuela, according to reports from Reuters and AFP on the 3rd.
According to diplomatic sources, this Security Council meeting is scheduled to take place at 10 a.m. Eastern Time on the 5th, which is midnight on the 6th Korean time, at the UN headquarters in New York.
The request for the meeting was made by Venezuela and delivered to the Security Council by neighboring Colombia, with support from China and Russia.
On the same day, the U.S. launched a sudden military operation to strike Venezuela and arrested President Maduro, extraditing him to the United States.
Venezuela’s ambassador to the UN, Samuel Moncada, criticized the situation in a letter to the Security Council. He described it as a “colonial war aimed at destroying the republican system freely chosen by our people and imposing a puppet government to plunder natural resources, including the world’s largest oil reserves.”
He also argued that the U.S. violated the UN Charter, which stipulates that “all member states shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state.”
UN Secretary-General António Guterres expressed concern, noting through his spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric that the U.S. attack and President Maduro’s arrest did not adhere to the rules of international law.
Spokesperson Dujarric stated that “regardless of the situation in Venezuela, such developments set a dangerous precedent,” emphasizing that the Secretary-General continues to stress the importance of fully adhering to international laws, including the UN Charter.
Since last September, the Trump administration has been intensifying pressure on the Maduro regime by deploying troops in the Caribbean under the pretext of drug interdiction, blocking Venezuelan crude oil exports, and suggesting the possibility of mainland military operations.
(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)