Abduction of Venezuela’s Maduro illegal despite US charges, experts say

Washington, DC – As the planetary outcry implicit the US abduction of Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro continues to grow, officials successful Washington are relying connected the United States’ ain transgression charges to warrant its subject operation.

But experts accent that countries cannot usage their ain indictments to onslaught different state, rejecting framing Maduro’s “capture” arsenic a ineligible arrest.

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“There’s a precise wide bounds connected enforcement jurisdiction internationally, and that is that 1 authorities cannot enforce its instrumentality connected the territory of different authorities unless that authorities gives its consent,” said Margaret Satterthwaite, United Nations peculiar rapporteur connected the independency of judges and lawyers.

“So if a state, for example, harboured idiosyncratic that the US considered a fugitive, the US could attack that authorities and question its consent to apprehension them and bring them backmost to the US to basal trial. But it cannot spell into different state without that state’s consent and drawback up an individual, adjacent if they are indicted decently by the US tribunal system.”

Maduro was indicted by the US Justice Department successful 2020 connected cause and weapon charges. He made his archetypal court appearance successful New York connected Monday aft his abduction and professed his innocence, saying that helium was “kidnapped”.

Another planetary instrumentality contented that arises with Maduro’s abduction is the immunity of heads of authorities and different high-ranking officials from prosecution and civilian penalties overseas – a rule that has been affirmed by the International Court of Justice and previously acknowledged by Washington.

“So not lone is the US extending enforcement jurisdiction without the consent of Venezuela, but the US is besides grabbing up a precocious authorities authoritative and saying we person the close to simply instrumentality this idiosyncratic retired of their presumption and enactment them connected proceedings successful the US,” Satterthwaite told Al Jazeera.

International courts are an objection to head-of-state immunity. In 2024, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an apprehension warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu implicit warfare transgression charges successful Gaza.

The US has imposed sanctions connected ICC officials for investigating Israel.

The US position

That ineligible consensus, however, has not stopped US President Donald Trump’s aides and allies from arguing that the abduction of Maduro was a specified instrumentality enforcement operation, not an enactment of aggression against different country.

Republican Senator Tom Cotton likened US peculiar forces abduction successful Caracas to instrumentality enforcement officers arresting a suspected cause trafficker successful the US, arsenic helium argued that the White House did not person to pass the US Congress of the attack.

“That’s not the benignant of happening that you expect beforehand announcement to Congress for,” Cotton told the Hugh Hewitt Show connected Monday.

“Nor, for that matter, bash I expect beforehand announcement each clip the enforcement carries retired an apprehension of a cause trafficker, whether it’s successful Venezuela oregon successful Arkansas.”

Hours aft the cognition connected Saturday, US Vice President JD Vance besides invoked Maduro’s indictment arsenic the ineligible ground for the US attack.

“And PSA [public work announcement] for everyone saying this was ‘illegal’: Maduro has aggregate indictments successful the United States for narcoterrorism,” Vance wrote connected X.

“You don’t get to debar justness for cause trafficking successful the United States due to the fact that you unrecorded successful a palace successful Caracas.”

Republican Senator Mike Lee initially questioned the home legality of the subject enactment without legislature authorisation connected Saturday.

But helium aboriginal said that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told him that the unit was “deployed to support and support those executing the apprehension warrant” – an mentation that appeared to fulfill the senator’s concern.

But Yusra Suedi, adjunct prof successful International instrumentality astatine the University of Manchester, stressed that the onslaught connected Venezuela violates the UN Charter, which prohibits “the menace oregon usage of unit against the territorial integrity oregon governmental independency of immoderate state”.

“A authorities cannot lawfully warrant violating planetary instrumentality by citing its ain home law. And this is simply a cardinal rule of planetary law,” said Suedi.

For his part, Ian Hurd, a prof of governmental subject astatine Northwestern University, dismissed the conception that US forces were conducting a law-enforcement operation.

“It’s silly for the American authorities to purport that this is simply the execution of an apprehension warrant,” Hurd told Al Jazeera.

“It would require, then, that you ideate that the Canadian authorities mightiness contented an apprehension warrant for Trump for fraud oregon sexual harassment and nonstop the forces to weaponry the White House to extract him to instrumentality him backmost to Canada for trial.”

He added that planetary instrumentality is unambiguous successful saying that governments cannot usage unit against different countries to beforehand their goals.

“So it’s precise intelligibly amerciable nether planetary law. It’s simply an overthrow of a authorities by a neighbour utilizing subject force,” Hurd told Al Jazeera.

Question of legitimacy

In the aftermath of the abduction of Maduro, immoderate supporters of the determination person argued that Maduro lacks legitimacy owed to the alleged elector fraud that took spot successful the past election, which the absorption claims to person documented.

Even earlier the US raid, absorption fig Maria Corina Machado said removing Maduro would not magnitude to authorities alteration due to the fact that Venezuelans had already voted against the president.

But experts accidental Washington’s appraisal of Maduro’s legitimacy is irrelevant to the illegality of the strike.

He was Venezuela’s caput of authorities astatine the clip of his abduction, a information recognised by the US Justice Department successful its 2026 indictment, which calls Maduro “Venezuela’s president and present de facto ruler”.

Satterthwaite, the UN rapporteur, said that portion determination are “serious concerns” with the 2024 elections, the US itself has treated Maduro arsenic Venezuela’s leader.

In January, Trump sent his envoy Richard Grenell to conscionable Maduro for talks connected accepting deportation flights of undocumented Venezuelans successful the US.

“If we allowed 1 authorities to spell astir the satellite saying, ‘Well, this idiosyncratic is legitimate, this is not. And since he’s not, I’m going to spell drawback him,’ you tin spot what benignant of chaos would ensue,” Satterthwaite said.

She added that the legitimacy of galore governments crossed the satellite tin beryllium questioned implicit fraudulent elections, deficiency of elections oregon ascension to powerfulness via a coup. “That does not let different idiosyncratic authorities unilaterally to determine that it tin spell and drawback up the caput of that government,” she said.

Maduro’s authorities has been accused of large quality rights violations, including arbitrary arrests of dissidents and torture.

“I, of course, would beryllium successful favour of measures of accountability for the [Venezuelan] government, but not successful this reckless benignant of Wild West mode that we’ve seen play retired here,” Satterthwaite told Al Jazeera.

The Noriega case

Some defenders of the abduction of Maduro implicit US charges person claimed that the determination has a ineligible precedent.

“Critics calling President Trump’s seizure of Nicolas Maduro unprecedented and amerciable person abbreviated memories. We’ve done this before, and the courts blessed it,” an subordinate prof of concern instrumentality astatine Georgia College and State University wrote successful a Wall Street Journal column.

He was referring to the US penetration of Panama and the seizure of its President Manuel Noriega successful 1989-1990. Noriega stood proceedings and was convicted of cause charges successful the US.

Satterthwaite said the seizure of Noriega had its ain ineligible issues nether planetary law, and it is not wholly analogous to the abduction of Maduro.

“That besides was illegal, and truthful doesn’t assistance america astatine each to marque the comparison,” she told Al Jazeera.

The UN General Assembly had condemned the US penetration of Panama.

Satterthwaite said successful the lawsuit of Panama, Washington attempted to marque a jurisdictional statement by saying that Noriega was not the country’s leader, and that the US was acting with the consent of the due caput of authorities astatine that time, President-elect Guillermo Endara.

“It’s important to enactment that astatine that infinitesimal successful Panama, the National Assembly determination had really declared a authorities of warfare against the US, truthful determination was already an engagement betwixt the 2 states,” Satterthwaite said.

“All of those things marque this different, but I don’t deliberation they marque that archetypal cognition legal.”