UAT condemns abduction of Venezuelan leader Maduro

The United Africans Transformation party has condemned the abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, and their forcible removal from Venezuelan territory by agents linked to the administration of US President Donald Trump.

The political party said the action raised profound concerns under both international and domestic law.

“This action constitutes a flagrant violation of international law, including the Charter of the United Nations, which expressly prohibits the use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state,” UAT president Dr Bantu Wonder Mahlatsi said on Monday.

He said the action also violated the foundational principle of non-intervention, which barred one state from forcibly interfering in the internal political affairs of another, including through regime change operations.

The action was also a violation of US domestic law because under its constitution, any military or paramilitary action against another sovereign state required explicit authorisation by Congress.

“No such authorisation has been granted in this case. Any extraterritorial seizure of a foreign head of state without congressional approval is unlawful, unconstitutional and represents a dangerous usurpation of democratic oversight.”

Mahlatsi said international law was unambiguous: no state has the legal authority to invade another country, abduct its head of state or engineer political outcomes by force.

“We therefore call upon the UN Security Council to convene urgently to investigate this matter, to demand full disclosure regarding the whereabouts and safety of the Venezuelan president and his spouse and to take appropriate action to uphold international law. Silence or delay would amount to complicity.”

The party said any state that openly disregarded both its own constitutional constraints and binding international legal norms must be recognised for what it is: a rogue actor within the international system.

“No country, regardless of its military or economic power, is above the law.”

Mahlatsi said if this violation was allowed to stand, it would set a precedent that threatened global stability by signalling that power, not law, governed international relations.

“History will judge harshly those who remained silent in the face of such illegality. Silence today will become regret tomorrow.”

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