‘Act of war’: Expert rejects Trump rationale for Venezuela attack

In response to widespread condemnation of the US’s actions against Venezuela and President Nicolas Maduro, US President Donald Trump and his allies have defended the US’s actions.

Trump claimed on Saturday that Maduro had been “captured” after US military operations in Caracas, the country’s capital, were alleged to have carried out a “campaign of deadly narco-terrorism against the United States.

He claimed that the US would “run” the South American nation in the event of a political transition, promising Venezuelans would become “rich, independent, and safe.”

However, Professor of Law Claire Finkelstein of the University of Pennsylvania has refuted the Trump administration’s claims that it defends both its plans to impose control over Venezuela and its attacks and removal.

Finkelstein described the attacks as “illegal use of force]and a violation of Venezuelan sovereignty,” saying, “I don’t believe there is any basis under international law for the action that occurred by the US government.”

According to her, “Maduro has personal jurisdiction rights, so it violates both his personal and international rights and the sovereignty of Venezuela.”

States are prohibited from attacking another country without provoking any provision of international law, including the UN Charter.

The UN Charter forbids “all Members from using force to threaten or undermine any state’s territorial integrity or political independence, or in any other way that goes against the UN’s objectives.”

The US actions came as a result of a months-long campaign to pressure Maduro into giving false information about his connections to drug traffickers.

Washington had ordered deadly attacks on alleged drug-smuggling vessels off the Venezuelan coast, sanctioned Maduro’s family, and threatened to launch attacks on the country’s soil.

Top Trump ally Tom Cotton, a US Congressman, welcomed the actions taken against the Venezuelan leader on social media on Saturday, noting that “Nicolas Maduro wasn’t just an illegitimate dictator, he also ran a vast drug-trafficking operation.”

Before being sequestered, Maduro had stated that he was willing to talk about drug dealing with the US. Additionally, he claimed that Venezuela’s vast oil reserves were being taken over by the Trump administration.

No “imminent threat”

Democrats in the US had been requesting answers from the Trump administration regarding its intentions in Venezuela, accusing the Republican president of trying to carry out unlawful war operations without the consent of Congress.

Only Congress has the authority to declare war, according to the US Constitution.

However, that authority has weakened over the past few decades as a result of the US’s use of loosely interpreted congressional authorizations to carry out military strikes all over the world during its so-called “war on terror.”

The top Democrat on the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, Gregory Meeks, stated on Saturday that “there was no imminent threat to the United States” from Venezuela, which was “certainly not one that justified military action without congressional authorization.”

In a statement shared on social media, Meeks stated that “these actions violate both US and international law and that, by Trump’s own admission, this is not a limited operation.”

There is no “immediate threat” to the US that would justify the executive branch carrying out attacks without a notification to Congress, according to Finkelstein, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania.

We did not have the kind of self-defence justification that would ordinarily allow Congress to bypass Congress, she told Al Jazeera. “It was an act of war against Venezuela,” she said.

There isn’t the kind of imminentness that would justify the president acting unilaterally and not trying to persuade Congress to join the effort. Even if you think the US is in grave danger as a result of drug trafficking, that is.

Finkelstein also criticized Trump’s “run” of Venezuela as being “incredibly illegal.”

You can’t just invade and conquer them, she said, “because states have sovereignty rights.”

We don’t have the right to enter Maduro’s government and begin running it, according to Finkelstein, even if he suddenly departed on his own accord.

Source: Aljazeera