(VOVWORLD) - US President Donald Trump said on Saturday he was putting Venezuela under temporary American control after the United States captured President Nicolas Maduro in a raid and whisked him to New York to face drug-trafficking charges.
 US President Donald Trump speaks during a press conference from his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, US, January 3, 2026.( REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst) |
"We will run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition," Trump said during a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
He said as part of the takeover, major US oil companies would move into Venezuela, which has the world's largest oil reserves, spend billions of dollars, and refurbish badly degraded oil infrastructure, a process experts said could take years.
The UN Security Council planned to meet on Monday to discuss the actions, which Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described as "a dangerous precedent."
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said in a post on X that the US’s acts represent a grave affront to Venezuela's sovereignty and yet another extremely dangerous precedent for the entire international community.
"The United States committed an act of armed aggression against Venezuela. This is deeply concerning and condemnable," said the Russian Foreign Ministry.
China's Foreign Ministry said China firmly opposes such a behavior by the US, “which seriously violates international law, violates Venezuela's sovereignty and threatens peace and security in Latin America and the Caribbean.”
The Mexican Foreign Ministry said that the Mexican government strongly condemns and rejects the military actions carried out unilaterally by the US armed forces against targets in the territory of Venezuela, “in clear violation of Article 2 of the Charter of the United Nations."
Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said, "Now is the time for de-escalation. International law must be respected."
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot wrote on X that the US strike runs counter to the ban on the use of force, which is the basic principle of international law. He added that the increasing number of violations of this principle by nations with primary responsibility as permanent members of the United Nations Security Council will have serious consequences for global security.
 Venezuelans protest against the US’s action. |
Thousands of people took to the streets of Venezuela’s capital, Caracas, to express their support for President Maduro and to demand his immediate release.
Protests against the US's military operation also took place in Chicago, Washington D.C., New York, and Los Angeles.