Venezuela’s Maduro warns world leaders over US military campaign

BOGOTA, Colombia

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has sent a formal appeal to all 193 UN member states and Caribbean leaders, warning of an "escalation of extremely serious aggression" by the United States.

In a letter read publicly by Foreign Minister Yvan Gil on Monday, Caracas called for international condemnation of US military actions in the Caribbean. The Venezuelan government is demanding an immediate halt to naval blockades and "armed attacks" while seeking an independent multilateral investigation into alleged human rights abuses.

Maduro centered his complaints on "Operation Southern Spear," a large-scale US naval and air deployment. Caracas alleges that this operation includes the presence of nuclear submarines off the Venezuelan coast.

While Washington has officially characterized the deployment as a counter-narcotics mission, Maduro’s letter describes it as an "act of intimidation unprecedented in the region in recent decades."

The Venezuelan president detailed a series of military actions that took place between September and December of this year, counting 28 armed attacks in the Caribbean Sea and the Eastern Pacific Ocean against civilian vessels, which have resulted in 104 extrajudicial executions, “many of them in shipwreck conditions.”

The letter asserts that these actions represent a systematic breach of international legal frameworks. Maduro argues that the US is operating outside the UN Charter, the 1949 Geneva Convention and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

"Venezuela has not committed any act that justifies this military intimidation," the letter states, describing the US strategy as "the lethal use of force outside any international legal framework."

The document also notes that the operations have sparked "intense debate" within the US Congress regarding their legality and constitutional basis.

The practice of state piracy “is a direct threat to the international legal order and global security,” Maduro said.

He warned that the attacks will not only impact his country but that the blockade and piracy against Venezuelan energy trade will affect oil and energy supplies and increase instability in international markets while also affecting the economies of the region and the world.