LND Condemns the Abduction of Venezuelan President and Warns of Grave Threat to International Peace

LND Condemns the Abduction of Venezuelan President and Warns of Grave Threat to International Peace

The League of Northern Democrats (LND) expresses its profound concern and alarm over reports that agents of the United States of America conducted a covert commando operation in Caracas resulting in the abduction of the President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro and his wife, forcibly transferring them to the United States to face domestic criminal charges.

2. This act no doubt represents another serious breach of international law and a dangerous assault on the foundations of the post-1945 international order, including the United Nations Charter, the principles of sovereign equality of states, non-intervention and the personal inviolability of sitting heads of state by a country that is supposed to maintain same. 

3. LND recalls that the Global South and the Non-Aligned Movement emerged from the historic struggle against imperial domination, external interference and coercive regime-change operations. The abduction of a serving president of a sovereign state, outside any multilateral legal framework, amounts to a return to gunboat diplomacy, forcefully rejected by the peoples and nations of Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean.

4. Coming shortly after the same United States carried out an unlawful military operation against Nigeria in the guise of protecting Nigerian Christians, LND warns that normalization of such extraterritorial attacks, unilateral enforcement actions and military incursions by powerful states against weaker ones constitutes a direct threat to world peace, undermines diplomatic engagement and exposes all states, particularly those of the Global South, to similar acts of lawlessness.

5. LND stresses that no state, however powerful, is above international law, and that political disagreements or allegations of wrongdoing cannot justify the attack and kidnapping of foreign leaders. International disputes must be addressed through dialogue, multilateral institutions and lawful international judicial mechanisms, not through covert or overt military operations.

6. In light of the gravity of this situation, LND formally calls on:

i. The United Nations Security Council to urgently place this matter on its agenda and demand full clarification, accountability and adherence to the UN Charter;

ii. The United Nations to condemn the act and reaffirm the principles of sovereignty, non-intervention and equality of states, particularly in defense of nations of the Global South;

iii. The African Union (AU) to adopt a principled position condemning this violation of international law and resisting the re-emergence of imperial practices in global affairs; and

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iv. The Federal Government of Nigeria, itself a victim of arbitrary use of force by the United States, as Africa’s most populous nation and a historic voice within the Non-Aligned Movement, to publicly condemn the action and to work diplomatically within the UN and AU to defend international legality and global stability.

7. LND reiterates its unwavering commitment to a rules-based international order, the peaceful resolution of disputes and the collective security of all nations. Silence or acquiescence in the face of such allegations would only embolden further violations and accelerate the breakdown of international norms painstakingly built over decades.

Signed:

*Dr. Ladan Salihu*

(Publicly Secretary)