Eduardo González
The Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, warned this Saturday that, just as “Spain did not recognize the Maduro regime,” it will not “recognize an intervention that violates international law and pushes the region toward a horizon of uncertainty and belligerence.”
“We ask all actors to think of the civilian population, to respect the Charter of the United Nations, and to work toward a just and negotiated transition,” he added in a message on social media, issued almost twelve hours after the overthrow and capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro by the United States military under the orders of President Donald Trump.
Hours earlier, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported in a statement that it was “closely monitoring the situation in Venezuela, in coordination with our partners in the European Union and the countries of the region.” “In constant contact with our Embassy and Consulate in Caracas and the consular emergency unit, we are monitoring the situation of the Spanish community in the country,” he continued. “The staff of the Spanish Embassy and Consulate in Caracas, as well as their families, are all safe,” it added.
“Spain calls for de-escalation and moderation, and for all actions to be taken with respect for International Law and the principles of the UN Charter,” the statement continued. “In this regard, Spain is prepared to offer its good offices to achieve a peaceful and negotiated solution to the current crisis,” the Ministry affirmed.
“Spain reiterates that it has not recognized the results of the July 28, 2024 elections and has always supported initiatives to achieve a democratic solution for Venezuela. It also reiterates that it has welcomed, and will continue to welcome, tens of thousands of Venezuelans who have had to leave their country for political reasons and that it is prepared to assist in the search for a democratic, negotiated, and peaceful solution for the country,” the statement concluded.
“I am following the situation in Venezuela from the Foreign Ministry’s crisis cabinet,” Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares wrote on social media. “The Spanish Embassy in Venezuela, the Consulate in Caracas, and the Foreign Ministry’s Consular Emergency Unit are fully operational to assist the Spanish community. Their safety is our priority,” he added. “Spain calls for respect for international law and for de-escalation,” he concluded.
In a subsequent message, Albares specified that he remains in “close contact” with his counterparts from Portugal, Paulo Rangel, and Italy, Antonio Tajani, “who, along with Spain, have the largest European communities in the country,” and with the EU High Representative, Kaja Kallas. “Also with my counterparts from Latin America: from Brazil, Mauro Silva; Colombia, Yolanda Villavicencio; Mexico, Juan Ramón de la Fuente; and with the Ibero-American Secretary General (SEGIB), Andrés Allamand,” he added.
Early this morning, government sources informed The Diplomat that José Manuel Albares had already spoken with the Spanish ambassador to Venezuela, Álvaro Albacete, who told him that “all the staff of the Spanish Embassy and Consulate and his family are well.”
Sumar, the minority party in Pedro Sánchez’s coalition government, has issued a statement warning that the US attacks constitute “a very serious violation of the UN Charter, an unjustified unilateral aggression, and an act of imperialist piracy against a UN member state.” The statement urges the Spanish government to condemn these attacks and calls for “popular mobilization to prevent them from becoming the prelude to attacks and an invasion of Venezuela, which would destabilize all of Latin America.”
For his part, the president of the People’s Party (PP), Alberto Núñez Feijóo, has stated that his party is “closely following the situation in Venezuela.” “Our main concern is for the Spanish residents in the country and for all Venezuelans, our top priority at all times,” he continued. “Venezuela has suffered under a brutal dictatorship and demands a future without repression and with a democratic transition under the leadership of the president-elect, Edmundo González Urrutia, and María Corina Machado,” he added.
“We have been denouncing the Maduro regime and its allies for many years, including from within the Spanish government. Today is a bad day for all of them,” he continued. “The current Socialist government removed the winner of the elections from Venezuela, keeping him in power despite his defeat,” Feijóo asserted. “Prudence is compatible with the hope that Venezuela will recover the future that Maduro stole from it with the complicit silence of too many leaders in my country. Only freedom and democracy will bring the peaceful future that Venezuela deserves,” he concluded.
The president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, wrote on social media that “Maduro is a dictator who hijacked the ballot box and his people: murders, torture, famine, and the exodus of millions of Venezuelans.” “The fall of the regime and the return of democracy to Venezuela with Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado is one of the most important news stories of recent times,” she added.
The leader of Podemos, Ione Belarra, wrote on social media that “the US thinks the world belongs to them and that they can do whatever they want to other people. We cannot allow this. I strongly condemn this attack on Venezuela.” “Spain is a country of peace. Let’s break off relations with the US and leave NATO before it’s too late,” she warned. Podemos has registered a non-binding resolution in Congress to reject the US military attack on Venezuela and demand the immediate release of Nicolás Maduro and his wife, request the severing of relations with the United States, initiate procedures for Spain’s withdrawal from NATO, and promote initiatives within the EU aimed at halting the military escalation and promoting the restoration of international law.
For his part, Vox leader Santiago Abascal wrote on social media that “Maduro’s narco-terrorist regime must surrender immediately and prevent further suffering for the Venezuelan people, whom it has relentlessly and brutally tortured.” “Now we will see the Sánchez mafia and the corrupt left talking a lot about human rights, but for years they have been accomplices and direct beneficiaries of Maduro’s narco-terrorist regime, which has tortured and oppressed its people,” the far-right party wrote on X.
Bombings and capture of Maduro
Throughout the early morning hours, several explosions were reported in Caracas, particularly at Fort Tiuna, the country’s main military base, and at La Carlota airbase, while U.S. Air Force aircraft flew over the Venezuelan capital. Additional explosions were also reported in La Guaira (north of Caracas), Higuerote (Miranda state), and Maracay, the capital of Aragua state.
Donald Trump stated on his social media account, Truth Social, that “The United States has successfully carried out a large-scale attack against Venezuela and its leader, President Nicolás Maduro, who has been captured and flown out of the country, along with his wife. This operation was conducted in collaboration with US law enforcement.
Sources familiar with the operation, cited by ABC, have confirmed that the arrest of Maduro was carried out by Delta Force, an elite unit of the US Army specializing in high-value capture operations and responsible, among others, for the 2019 mission that ended the life of the leader of the Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. This is the largest operation launched by the United States in Latin America since the invasion of Panama that ended the regime of Manuel Noriega.
Trump assures that the US will remain in Venezuela to lead “the transition”
In his first appearance before the media after the operation, Trump asserted that the assault on Venezuela has been “one of the most powerful displays of force by our country” and declared that “no nation in the world could accomplish what the United States has done.” “It has been an assault by land, sea, and air unlike anything seen since World War II” to bring “dictator Nicolás Maduro to justice,” he continued.
Furthermore, Trump affirmed that the United States will remain in Venezuela for as long as necessary in order to “guide the country toward a safe and proper transition.” “We have arrived, but we will stay until the proper transition takes place. So we will stay, we will take charge to make the transition possible,” Trump declared, surrounded at the press conference by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.
In this regard, he asserted that the United States is in talks with various individuals to lead Venezuela during this period and that several have already been appointed. “You will meet them soon,” he added. However, when asked about the possibility of María Corina Machado becoming president of Venezuela, Trump responded that “it would be very difficult” because “she doesn’t have the support or respect within the country.”
Donald Trump accused the Venezuelan president of waging a “campaign of violence and terror against the United States,” of “threatening the stability of the region,” and of drug trafficking. He announced that Maduro and his wife would face justice in the United States. “The dictator and terrorist Maduro is finally gone and the people of Venezuela are free,” he said.
Trial in the US
For his part, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has retrieved a brief statement he issued at the end of July in which he stated that “Maduro is not the President of Venezuela and his regime is not the legitimate government. Maduro is the head of the Cartel de Los Soles, a narco-terror organization which has taken possession of a country. And he is under indictment for pushing drugs into the United States.
Sources close to the Secretary of State have confirmed that Maduro will be tried in the United States and could be sentenced to life imprisonment for drug trafficking. In this regard, US Attorney General Pamela Bondi has reported via social media that Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores “have been indicted in the Southern District of New York” and has been “charged with Narco-Terrorism Conspiracy, Cocaine Importation Conspiracy, Possession of Machineguns and Destructive Devices, and Conspiracy to Possess Machineguns and Destructive Devices against the United States”.
“They will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts. On behalf of the entire U.S. DOJ, I would like to thank President Trump for having the courage to demand accountability on behalf of the American People, and a huge thank you to our brave military who conducted the incredible and highly successful mission to capture these two alleged international narco traffickers,” she said.
Reactions in Venezuela
Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez has demanded that Trump provide “proof of life for President Maduro.” “We do not know the whereabouts of President Maduro,” she stated on social media. Later, Rodríguez, speaking from the National Defense Council, demanded “the immediate release of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, the only president of Venezuela.” Venezuela “will never be a colony of another country,” she added. “What they did to Venezuela today, they can do to anyone. This brutal use of force to bend the will of the people can be done to any country,” she warned. Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López has assumed command of Venezuela following the capture of Nicolás Maduro and Delcy Rodríguez has assumed the acting presidency of the country.
In a statement, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela “rejects, repudiates, and denounces before the international community the extremely serious military aggression perpetrated by the current government of the United States of America against Venezuelan territory and its population in the civilian and military areas of Caracas, the capital of the Republic, and the states of Miranda, Aragua, and La Guaira,” which “constitutes a flagrant violation of the Charter of the United Nations, especially Articles 1 and 2, which enshrine respect for sovereignty, the legal equality of states, and the prohibition of the use of force.” “Such aggression threatens international peace and stability, specifically in Latin America and the Caribbean, and seriously endangers the lives of millions of people,” the statement continues.
Therefore, it continues, “President Nicolás Maduro has signed and ordered the implementation of the Decree declaring a state of External Emergency throughout the national territory, to protect the rights of the population, the full functioning of republican institutions, and to immediately transition to armed struggle. The entire country must mobilize to defeat this imperialist aggression.”
“The objective of this attack is none other than to seize Venezuela’s strategic resources, particularly its oil and minerals, attempting to forcibly break the nation’s political independence,” but this “attempt to impose a colonial war to destroy the republican form of government and force a ‘regime change,’ in alliance with the fascist oligarchy, will fail like all previous attempts,” it continues.
“In strict adherence to Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, Venezuela reserves the right to exercise legitimate self-defense to protect its people, its territory, and its independence. We call upon the peoples and governments of Latin America, the Caribbean, and the world to mobilize in active solidarity against this imperial aggression,” the statement concludes.
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil has reported that Venezuela’s mission to the UN has formally requested an emergency session of the UN Security Council to address the “criminal aggression” of the United States.
Opposition leader Corina Machado (2025 Nobel Peace Prize laureate) wrote on social media that Nicolás Maduro “from today onward faces international justice for the atrocious crimes committed against Venezuelans.” “Given his refusal to accept a negotiated solution, the United States government has fulfilled its promise to uphold the law,” the statement continued. “The time has come for popular sovereignty and national sovereignty to prevail in our country,” it added. “We are going to restore order, free political prisoners, build an exceptional country, and bring our children home,” it asserted. “We are prepared to assert our mandate and take power,” Machado stated.
“Venezuelans, these are decisive hours. Know that we are ready for the great operation of rebuilding our nation,” wrote opposition candidate and self-proclaimed “president-elect of Venezuela,” Edmundo González Urrutia.
The EU: prudence
The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, stated in carefully worded remarks that she had spoken with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the EU ambassador in Caracas, and that the European Union is closely monitoring the situation in Venezuela. The EU official reiterated that the EU has repeatedly stated that Nicolás Maduro “lacks legitimacy” and has advocated for a peaceful transition in the country.
At the same time, Kallas emphasized that “under all circumstances, the principles of international law and the UN Charter must be respected” and made an explicit appeal for restraint following the escalation. According to Kallas, the safety of EU citizens in Venezuela is “the highest priority” for Brussels.
The President of the European Council, António Costa, stated that he continues to follow “the situation in Venezuela with great concern” and stressed that the European Union calls for de-escalation and a resolution based on the framework of international law and the principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations.
António Costa also reiterated that the European Union will continue to support a peaceful, democratic, and inclusive solution in Venezuela. He further expressed his confidence in the efforts of Kaja Kallas to ensure, in coordination with the Member States, the safety of European citizens in the country.
For her part, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, stated that she is “following the situation in Venezuela very closely.” “We stand with the Venezuelan people and support a peaceful and democratic transition. Any solution must respect international law and the UN Charter. With the High Representative, Kaja Kallas, and in coordination with EU Member States, we are ensuring that EU citizens in the country can count on our full support,” he wrote on social media.
Other international reactions
UN Secretary-General António Guterres has expressed “deep concern about the breach of international law,” which could “set a dangerous precedent,” and has urged “all parties in Venezuela to engage in inclusive dialogue, fully respecting human rights and the rule of law,” according to a statement from his spokesperson, Stephane Dujarric.
For his part, the president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, wrote on social media that “they have attacked Venezuela. They are bombing with missiles,” and called on the Organization of American States (OAS) and the UN to meet “immediately.” “The Government of the Republic of Colombia observes with deep concern the reports of explosions and unusual aerial activity recorded in recent hours in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, as well as the consequent escalation of tension in the region,” Petro stated in a communiqué published on his X account.
China has strongly condemned the United States’ “blatant use of force against a sovereign state and its actions against its president.” “These hegemonic acts by the United States seriously violate international law and the sovereignty of Venezuela, and threaten peace and security in Latin America and the Caribbean region,” stated Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian. “China firmly opposes this. We call on the United States to abide by international law and the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, and to stop violating the sovereignty and security of other countries,” he concluded.
For its part, the Russian Foreign Ministry condemned the United States’ “military aggression” against Venezuela and warned that, “in the current situation, it is crucial, above all, to avoid further escalation and focus on finding a solution through dialogue.”
Iran’s Foreign Ministry has strongly condemned the US military attack on Venezuela, calling it a “flagrant violation” of the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and a clear violation of the fundamental principles of the UN Charter and international law that prohibit the use of force against sovereign states.
“Freedom is advancing. Long live freedom, damn it!” wrote Argentine President Javier Milei on the social network X.