The EU has called for "restraint" and respect for international law in Venezuela after President Donald Trump announced US forces had captured leader Nicolas Maduro in a large-scale assault on Saturday. France has said no solution "can be imposed from outside".
On Saturday, Trump ordered large-scale military strikes in Venezuela and announced that leftist leader Nicolas Maduro had been captured and flown out of the country.
The US Attorney General said Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores had been indicted in the Southern District of New York on charges including "Narco-Terrorism Conspiracy," conspiracy to import cocaine, and charges related to machineguns.
The European Union has called for international law in Venezuela to be respected.
"The EU has repeatedly stated that Mr Maduro lacks legitimacy and has defended a peaceful transition" in Venezuela, the bloc's top diplomat Kaja Kallas wrote on X after speaking with her US counterpart Marco Rubio on Saturday.
"Under all circumstances, the principles of international law and the UN Charter must be respected. We call for restraint," she wrote.
Undermining international law
Kallas said the EU was closely monitoring the fast-moving situation and that she had spoken to the bloc's envoy to Venezuela, with the safety of EU citizens "our top priority".
France condemned the American operation, saying it undermined international law while no solution to the country's crisis can be imposed from the outside.
Maduro "gravely violated" the rights of Venezuelans, but the military operation that led to him being grabbed "contravenes the principle of non-use of force, which underpins international law", Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot wrote on X.
"No lasting political solution can be imposed from the outside", he said, warning that "the increasing violations" of this principle by permanent UN Security Council members "will have serious consequences for global security, sparing no one".
Earlier on Saturday, Spain offered to mediate in the crisis.
"Spain calls for de-escalation and restraint," the foreign ministry said in a statement, adding it was "ready to help in the search for a democratic, negotiated, and peaceful solution for the country".
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said all countries should "uphold international law", adding that "the UK was not involved in any way in this operation" as he urged patience in order to "establish the facts".
Bombs away for Trump, self-proclaimed peace president
Election results contested
The EU refused to recognise the results of the disputed 2024 election that handed Maduro a third term in power, and has slapped sanctions on dozens of Venezuelan officials for undermining democracy in the country.
The 27-nation bloc has stopped short however of formally recognising opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia as Venezuela's rightful leader, as the United States has done.
Gonzalez Urrutia ran as a last-minute stand-in for opposition figurehead Maria Corina Machado, who was barred from contesting last year's election.
After the vote, Gonzalez Urrutia fled Venezuela for Madrid.
Venezuela's Machado dedicates Nobel Peace Prize to fellow citizens and Trump
Where's Maduro?
Venezuela has demanded an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss the US attacks on the country, amid uncertainty over Maduro's whereabouts.
Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello urged citizens to remain calm and to trust the country's leadership and military. "The world needs to speak out about this attack," Reuters reported him as saying.
The United States stands behind its decision to forcibly bring Maduro before the US courts.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said that Maduro and his wife have been indicted in the Southern District of New York, 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," Bondi said.
Justifying Maduro's capture, US Vice President JD Vance said that Venezuela ignored Trump's offers to reach a settlement.
"The president offered multiple off ramps, but was very clear throughout this process: the drug trafficking must stop, and the stolen oil must be returned to the United States," Vance said in a post on X.
Vance also doubled down on the US justification that Maduro was a fugitive from US law, saying: "You don't get to avoid justice for drug trafficking in the United States because you live in a palace in Caracas."
Trump orders blockade of 'sanctioned' Venezuela oil tankers
'Serious affront' to sovereignty
Russia, an ally of Venezuela, has demanded "immediate" clarification about the circumstances of Maduro's reported abduction.
"We are extremely alarmed by reports that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife were forcibly removed from the country as a result of today's US aggression. We call for an immediate clarification of the situation," the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has also slammed the US attacks as a "serious affront" to the country's sovereignty, echoing criticism made by fellow regional heavyweight, Mexico.
What happens now?
Jordi Canas, a Spanish former MEP with the Socialist party of Catalonia, welcomes the fall of Maduro.
"Those of us who have condemned Nicolás Maduro's dictatorial Chavist regime, think it is good news that he is leaving power," he told RFI, but the question of "how" still matters.
"The question is whether the intervention now by the United States is intended solely and exclusively to restore democracy, or whether its purpose is the return of a government that may be close to it and, as [Trump] himself has publicly stated in his endless press conferences, has the objective of reclaiming "its" oil. For Trump, Venezuelan oil is his oil... it's not the oil of the Venezuelans, [he considers] it belongs to American companies.
Is the United States after Venezuela's oil?
Canas wonders what Maduro's departure – however welcome – will cost Venezuelans.
"Will Venezuelans regain control of their resources in order to grow economically, allow exiles to return to the country, and have a future of prosperity? Or will they fall under American oligopolies, with control of raw materials – oil, gold, mineral resources – without Venezuelans being able to use them for the benefit of the country as a whole?
"That's the big question we now have to ask ourselves."
(with newswires)
