US President Donald Trump and his allies have defended US attacks on Venezuela and the removal of President Nicolas Maduro from power, amid widespread condemnation that the actions violate international law.
Trump told reporters on Saturday that Maduro was “captured” after U.S. military strikes on the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, for carrying out an alleged “deadly narcoterrorism campaign against the United States.”
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He said the U.S. government would “lead” the South American country through a political transition, promising the Venezuelan people they would become “rich, independent and secure.”
But Claire Finkelstein, a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania, rejected the Trump administration’s arguments in defense of Maduro’s attacks and removal, as well as its plans to exert control over Venezuela.
“I don’t think there is any basis under international law for the action that took place overnight by the U.S. government,” Finkelstein told Al Jazeera, describing the attacks as an “unlawful use of force.” [and] a violation of Venezuelan sovereignty.”
“Maduro has personal jurisdictional rights, so this is not only a violation of Venezuelan sovereignty, but also a violation of his personal and international rights,” she said.
Many statutes of international law – including the United Nations Charter – prohibit states from attacking another country without provocation.
“All members shall refrain, in their international relations, from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any State, or in any other manner inconsistent with the purposes of the United Nations,” states the UN Charter.
The US measures come amid a months-long pressure campaign against Maduro, whom the Trump administration accuses, without evidence, of being linked to drug traffickers.
Washington has carried out deadly strikes against suspected drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean, seized vessels carrying oil off the Venezuelan coast, sanctioned members of Maduro’s family and threatened to launch attacks on the country’s soil.
“Nicolas Maduro was not only an illegitimate dictator, he also led a vast drug trafficking operation,” American congressman Tom Cotton, one of Trump’s main allies, wrote on social networks on Saturday, welcoming the measures taken against the Venezuelan leader.
Before his arrest, Maduro said he was open to dialogue with the United States on drug trafficking. He had also accused the Trump administration of seeking to remove him and take control of Venezuela’s vast oil reserves.
“No imminent threat”
Democratic Party lawmakers in the United States were demanding answers from the Trump administration over its goals in Venezuela, accusing the Republican president of seeking to illegally carry out acts of war without congressional oversight.
According to the U.S. Constitution, only Congress has the power to declare war.
But that authority has been weakened in recent decades as the United States has carried out military strikes around the world as part of its so-called “war on terror,” based on misinterpreted congressional authorizations.
On Saturday, Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said that despite the Trump administration’s assertions, “there was no imminent threat to the United States” from Venezuela, “certainly not one that would justify military action without congressional authorization.”
“These actions violate both U.S. and international law and, by Trump’s own admission, this is not a limited operation,” Meeks said in a statement shared on social media.
Echoing this view was Finkelstein of the University of Pennsylvania, who said there was no “immediate threat” to the United States that would justify the executive branch carrying out attacks without informing Congress.
“It was an act of war against Venezuela, and we didn’t have the kind of self-defense justification that would normally justify circumventing Congress,” she told Al Jazeera.
“Even if you think the United States is in grave danger from drug trafficking, there’s not the kind of imminence there that would justify the president acting unilaterally and not looking to Congress to try to convince him.”
Finkelstein also dismissed Trump’s plans for the United States to “rule” Venezuela, calling them “incredibly illegal.”
“States have sovereignty rights, and you can’t just invade and take over,” she said.
“Even if Maduro fell of his own accord and we didn’t make it, we don’t have the right to come in and start running their government,” Finkelstein said.
“Democracy is based on the idea that the people are sovereign and choose their own leaders, and that is something we should promote in Latin America and South America, without trying to undermine it.”
