The United State on Saturday carried out a military strike on Venezuela and captured its President Nicolas Maduro, who has since been taken out of the country, US President Donald Trump said on Saturday.
Venezuela’s capital, Caracas, along with the states of Miranda, Aragua and La Guaira were reportedly attacked, the Venezuelan government said in a statement.
At least seven explosions were reported and low-flying aircraft were heard around 2 am (local time) on Saturday in the capital city.
The strike follows US allegations that Maduro has turned Venezuela into a “narco-state” and manipulated election. Meanwhile, the Venezuelan leader, who succeeded Hugo Chavez to take power in 2013, has countered that Washington's real aim is to seize control of Venezuela's vast oil reserves, the largest in the world, Reuters reported.
Several world leaders and politicians have reacted to the news, with some condemning the attack and expressing concern over the growing tensions.
Cuba's President Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez strongly condemned the US attack on social media, calling it a “criminal attack” against Venezuela and urging the international community to respond quickly.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Diaz-Canel said that Cuba’s so-called “zone of peace” is being “brutally assaulted”, describing the attack by Washington as “state terrorism” targeting not only the Venezuelan people but “Our America” as a whole.
He concluded the statement with the revolutionary slogan: “Homeland or Death, We Shall Overcome.”
Iran’s foreign ministry also gave a sharp reaction to the explosions that rocked the capital city of Venezuela.
According to AFP, the ministry said in a statement that it “strongly condemns the American military attack on Venezuela and the flagrant violation of the national sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country”.
Iran’s statement was reportedly put out before Donald Trump’s Truth Social post confirming that the US had conducted “a large scale strike” on Venezuela.
“The Government of Colombia rejects the aggression against the sovereignty of Venezuela and of Latin America,” Colombian President Gustavo Petro wrote on the social media platform X.
“The Republic of Colombia reiterates its conviction that peace, respect for international law, and the protection of life and human dignity must prevail over any form of armed confrontation,” Petro said another tweet.
The office of Italy's Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni said on Saturday that she was “closely monitoring the situation in Venezuela”, with an aim "to gathering information about our fellow citizens" in the country.
Meloni also added that she was in constant contact with Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani. Around 160,000 Italians currently live in Venezuela, most of them with dual citizenship, Reuters reported.
On Saturday, Spain offered to mediate the crisis between the United States and Venezuela following US attacks on Caracas and the capture of President Nicolas Maduro, who was later flown out of his country.
“Spain calls for de-escalation and restraint,” the foreign ministry was quoted as saying by AFP, adding that “in this regard ... it is prepared to offer its good offices to achieve a peaceful, negotiated solution to the current crisis.”
US senator Brian Schatz, a Democrat said that US has no national interests in Venezuela that can justify starting a war.
“We have no vital national interests in Venezuela to justify war. We should have learned not to stumble into another stupid adventure by now. And he’s not even bothering to tell the American public what the hell is going on,” he said on X.
A fellow Democrat senator from Arizona Ruben Gallego also condemned the war, stating “This war is illegal, it’s embarrassing that we went from the world cop to the world bully in less than one year. There is no reason for us to be at war with Venezuela.
