Antonio Guterres calls for full respect of UN Charter at Security Council meet

By Deepak Arora

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 5: The UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, told the Security Council on Monday that he was deeply concerned about the possible intensification of instability in Venezuela, the potential impact on the region, and the precedent the US military operation may set for how relations between and among states are conducted.

In the remarks that were delivered on his behalf by the Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, Rosemary DiCarlo, the Secretary-General said that he remained deeply concerned that rules of international law, including the Charter of the United Nations, have not been respected with regard to the US military intervention in Venezuela and seizure of President Nicolas Maduro on January 3.

The Security Council on Monday held a meeting on the situation in Venezuela.

Antonio Guterres highlighted that the Charter of the UN enshrines the prohibition of the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any Member State.

The Secretary-General said it is possible to prevent a wider and more destructive conflagration. He called on all Venezuelan actors to engage in an inclusive, democratic dialogue in which all sectors of society can determine their future.

He further urged Venezuela’s neighbours, and the international community more broadly, to act in a spirit of solidarity and in adherence to the principles, laws and rules erected to promote peaceful coexistence.

“The power of the law must prevail,” he said, stressing that international law provides tools to address issues ranging from human rights concerns to illicit trafficking and resource disputes – and that this is “the route we need to take.”

Denmark, a fellow member of NATO with jurisdiction over the vast mineral-rich island of Greenland, echoed Guterres' concerns, saying the “inviolability of borders is not up for negotiation.”

“No state should seek to influence political outcomes in Venezuela through the use of threat of force or through other means inconsistent with international law,” said Christina Markus Lassen, Danish ambassador to the UN.

Colombian Ambassador Leonor Zalabata said the raid was reminiscent of “the worst interference in our area in the past.” . Zalabata said “Democracy cannot be defended or promoted through violence and coercion, and it cannot be superseded, either, by economic interests.”

Russia's ambassador to the UN Vasily Nebenzya called the U.S. intervention in Venezuela and capture of Maduro is “a turn back to the era of lawlessness” by America.

“We cannot allow the United States to proclaim itself as some kind of a supreme judge, which alone bears the right to invade any country, to label culprits, to hand down and to enforce punishments irrespective of notions of international law, sovereignty and nonintervention,” he said.

But U.S. envoy Mike Waltz defended the action as a justified and “surgical law enforcement operation," calling out the 15-member council for criticising the targeting of Maduro.

“If the United Nations in this body confers legitimacy on an illegitimate narco-terrorist with the same treatment in this charter of a democratically elected president or head of state, what kind of organisation is this?” said Waltz.

The U.S. seized Maduro and his wife early Saturday from their home on a military base and put them aboard a U.S. warship to face prosecution in New York in a Justice Department indictment accusing them of participating in a narco-terrorism conspiracy.

Maduro made his first appearance in a Manhattan courthouse on Monday and said he was still the President and pleaded not guilty in U.S. court.