Ousted Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, have pleaded not guilty in a New York court to drug and weapons charges. Maduro told Judge Alvin Hellerstein, “I am innocent, I am not guilty. I am a decent man. I’m the president of the republic of Venezuela … I am here kidnapped.” The judge adjourned the matter until March 17.
The legal protocols in evidence in court stand in stark contrast to how Maduro and his wife got to that point. At the weekend, US forces stormed his compound in Venezuela and whisked the pair out of the country. There was little crying globally for the demise of the dictatorial leader who has played a starring role in the failing of the state. Five years ago, he was indicted by the US on narco-terrorism charges for allegedly running a scheme to send tonnes of cocaine to the US.
He has denied the allegations. In 2024, he appeared to lose an election in a landslide but kept power through a violent crackdown against his political opponents.
The question still remains, however, did the ends justify the means in his ousting? Geoffrey Robertson, KC, who was president of the United Nations War Crimes Court in Sierra Leone and is author of World of War Crimes, argued in The Age on Monday that there was no legal difference between Vladimir Putin’s attack on Ukraine and Donald Trump’s attack on Venezuela. The American indictment that was presented to the court “conferred no retrospective extraterritorial authority to arrest or imprison [Maduro and Flores] or to occupy or annex their nation. No treaty permitted this and no international court approved it.”
The immediate response from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was suitably, and characteristically, diplomatic: Australia was monitoring developments, everyone should support dialogue and diplomacy to try to secure regional stability and prevent escalation. Australia had held concerns about the situation in Venezuela, including respect for democratic principles, human rights and fundamental freedoms.
Albanese ended with this: “We continue to support international law and a peaceful, democratic transition in Venezuela that reflects the will of the Venezuelan people.”
Not a skerrick of censure against the US president or his abandonment of international law. Given the concluding sentence, it would appear the prime minister sees supporting international law through different lenses, depending on who is upholding it and who is breaking it. The United Nations wasn’t so reticent. At an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, the US action was criticised. Russia and China demanded the release of Maduro and Flores.
Russia’s credibility in particular is strained by its actions in Ukraine, while China’s stated ambitions for Taiwan and its repeated flouting of trade rules also undermine its position. Still, how can Australia criticise those countries for failing to stick to the rules and stay silent now? It is upon such hypocrisies that multilateral systems collapse.
This appears to be something the US is not worried about. White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller’s comment that “We’re a superpower and under President Trump we will conduct ourselves as a superpower” should send a shiver of anxiety globally.
The immediate measured response from Albanese to the US action was correct, given so much of the operation was still being revealed. On Monday Foreign Minister Penny Wong urged only that dialogue, diplomacy and international law be supported. Others argued it was America’s place to explain, not Australia’s to assess, the legality of the situation.
With the smoke now clearing over Caracas, we would expect our government to set aside such diplomatic niceties. There have been signs other allies have had enough. French President Emmanuel Macron said he did not support or approve of America’s methods even if he was glad Maduro was gone.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, while equivocating on Venezuela, at least declared he stood with Denmark as it looks to fend off Trump’s attention on Greenland. And why should sovereign nations not speak their minds? The ability to call out the obvious crossing of clear red lines should also be unremarkable.
It’s a fairly easy chain of thought: if you respect international law, then you cannot condone America’s actions. If we cannot tell our friends what we think, how friendly are they?
Source: Expensive-Horse5538
7 Comments
That requires politicians with balls. The Australian political class is castrated.
Well that then simply raises the question….why are we still friends with a nation that doesn’t share any of our values? Why are we friends with a nation that is promoting a hemespheric influence model where great powers get to control their weaker neighbours? Do we really want to be in China’s “influence zone” where might makes right?
>It’s a fairly easy chain of thought: if you respect international law, then you cannot condone America’s actions. If we cannot tell our friends what we think, how friendly are they?
Although I think international law is BS, Maduro did not respect it. His dictatorship caused the largest immigration crisis in the Americas history with over a quarter of the country fleeing, and also caused the death of tens of thousands of its citizens. I do not condone his actions.
The international law abiding world stood by and did NOTHING, allowing his regime to continue. I do not condone their actions. Hey “friends”, get off your ass next time and do something.
The US actually stepped in and did something. Good for them, and good for Venezuela!
Trump is a loose cannon and a clown – what happens when the US courts release Maduro for lack of evidence – but we need to keep our focus on the overall relationship with America.
Trump will lose the Congress in a year and be gone two after that. Unlike the CCP occupation zone with its ruling police-state cabal, American democracy will renew itself, and quickly. We need to keep our eye on the ball.
Diplomacy exists in quiet conversations with our allies… I would imagine all the world leaders are tiptoeing around the ‘psychology of Trump’ to try to manage this in a way that doesn’t worsen the situation and make him double down.
australia should not be friends with the fourth reich
America is acting like a rogue state, and we should keep our distance from it.