Venezuela calls on UN to pressure US for Maduro’s immediate release weeks after abduction
Venezuela has formally petitioned the United Nations for the immediate release of President Nicolas Maduro, following his abduction by US forces in an early January operation that Caracas slammed as "illegal."
Foreign Minister Yvan Gil Pinto addressed the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Monday, demanding “the immediate release” of President Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, who are being held in New York awaiting trial.
Maduro has pleaded not guilty to US drug trafficking charges, describing himself as a “prisoner of war.”
Under the pretext of leading a cartel of drug and gun traffickers, Maduro was abducted from the presidential palace in Caracas and transferred to a prison facility in New York pending trial.
Gil said “January 3 marked a turning point of extreme gravity,” while condemning the “illegal military action” by US forces that left more than 100 people dead in Venezuela.
Despite profound “technological and military asymmetry” between Venezuela and “the nuclear power of the United States,” Gil said Caracas had chosen “to open a diplomatic channel to resolve our differences with that country.”
He added that Venezuela was “working toward a process of acknowledging past wounds, forgiveness, and reconciliation,” pointing to a new amnesty law adopted unanimously by the legislature on February 19.
US President Donald Trump is openly saying that he has taken full control of Venezuela’s oil industry following the American forces' kidnapping of the country’s president. He has also repeatedly demanded that Caracas expel diplomats and advisers from allied countries.
Trump has openly acknowledged that a central objective of the military action against Venezuela was control over its oil sector - underscoring a long US history of violence and imperial domination in Latin America.
Many observers warn that Washington’s approach undermines Venezuela’s sovereignty and democracy, effectively turning the nation into a de facto US protectorate under covert intelligence control.
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