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Key events
Donald Trump has threatened a second American strike on Venezuela if remaining members of its government do not cooperate with his efforts to get the country “fixed”.
You can watch the US president making the remarks aboard Air Force One here:
Keir Starmer has said when asked if he would condemn the US action in Venezuela that he wants to wait to “establish the facts” and speak to Donald Trump, while insisting the UK would “shed no tears” over the end of Maduro’s regime.
However, some of the British prime minister’s own MPs have been more outspoken, criticising America’s actions as a breach of international law.
Labour MP Kim Johnson questioned whether “we as a country still stand for international law and sovereignty”, while her colleague Richard Burgon described Starmer’s statement as “shameful and reckless”.
Former shadow chancellor John McDonnell said that “effectively our country has been rendered up as a Trump colony”, accusing the government of “prevarication”.
In a post on X, Labour MP Clive Lewis said of the US action: “A clear breach of the Nuremberg principles – which the UK helped write.
Now a [Labour government] won’t even defend them. This silence isn’t diplomacy. It’s the moral equivalent of a white flag.
Opening summary
Hello and welcome to our live coverage after US forces seized Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro in Caracas and took him to the US to face drug charges.
Donald Trump said after the military operation early on Saturday that the US would “run” Venezuela and warned on Sunday that the US might launch a second strike if the government’s remaining members did not cooperate with his efforts to get the country “fixed”.
Venezuelan vice-president and Maduro ally Delcy Rodríguez has been appointed acting president and offered “to collaborate” with the Trump administration in what could be a major shift in relations between the governments.
In a conciliatory message on Instagram on Sunday she said she hoped to build “respectful relations” with Trump.
“We invite the US government to collaborate with us on an agenda of cooperation oriented towards shared development within the framework of international law to strengthen lasting community coexistence,” Rodríguez said.
In a televised address earlier Rodríguez gave no indication she would cooperate with Trump, saying what was being done to Venezuela was “an atrocity that violates international law”, referring to Trump’s government as “extremists” and maintaining that Maduro was Venezuela’s rightful leader.
But Trump warned later that if Rodríguez didn’t fall in line, “she is going to pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro”.
In other key developments:
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Rodríguez announced a commission to seek the release of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
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Maduro is in a New York detention centre awaiting a court appearance on Monday on drug charges.
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Top officials in Maduro’s government called the seizure of Maduro and his wife a kidnapping. “Let no one fall for the enemy’s provocations,” interior minister Diosdado Cabello said.
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Trump’s administration described Maduro’s capture as a law-enforcement mission to force him to face US criminal charges filed in 2020, including narco-terrorism conspiracy. Maduro has denied criminal involvement.
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Maduro’s son, Nicolás Ernesto Maduro Guerra, reportedly said his father’s supporters were more resolved than ever to support Maduro and the ousted president would return. “We will take to the streets, we will convene the people.”
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Trump suggested Colombia and Mexico could also face military action if they did not reduce the flow of illicit drugs to the US, saying: “Operation Colombia sounds good to me.”
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Images of the 63-year-old Maduro blindfolded and handcuffed stunned Venezuelans. The operation was Washington’s most controversial intervention in Latin America since the invasion of Panama 37 years ago.
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Venezuelan defence minister Gen Vladimir Padrino said on state television the US attack killed soldiers, civilians and a “large part” of Maduro’s security detail “in cold blood”. Venezuela’s armed forces had been activated to guarantee sovereignty, he said.
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The Cuban government said 32 of its citizens were killed during the raid.
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The governments of Spain, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Uruguay said in a joint statement the US actions “constitute an extremely dangerous precedent for peace and regional security and endanger the civilian population”.
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All EU countries except Hungary issued a statement calling for restraint by “all actors” and respect for the will of the Venezuelan people in order to “restore democracy”.
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UK prime minister Keir Starmer said Britain was not involved in the attack but refused to condemn it. British cabinet minister Darren Jones – a close ally of Starmer – called for a peaceful transition of power in Venezuela to be reached “quickly”.
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Trump suggested the US would not push for immediate elections to install a new government but rather would work with remaining members of the Maduro administration to clamp down on drug trafficking and overhaul its oil industry. He said US oil companies needed “total access” to the country’s vast reserves.
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Hundreds of Chavismo supporters gathered in Caracus on Sunday to demand the release of Maduro and Flores.
With news agencies
