Around the world U.S. attacks on Venezuela prompt praise, anger -- and fear

Supporters of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro burn a United States flag during a gathering Saturday near Miraflores Palace in Caracas, Venezuela.

(Jesus Vargas / Getty Images)

By

Staff Writer 

Jan. 3, 2026

3:55 PM PT

7 min

Click here to listen to this article

Share via

Close extra sharing options

Copy Link URL

Copied!

Print

0:00

0:00

1x

This is read by an automated voice. Please report any issues or inconsistencies here.

The U.S. captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in a covert military operation, sparking sharply divided reactions: praise from Trump allies, condemnation elsewhere.

Trump threatened further military intervention in Cuba, Colombia and Mexico, alarming regional leaders.

Mexican leaders have repeatedly said U.S. intervention in their country is not welcome or wanted.

MEXICO CITY — Argentina’s president called it “excellent news for the free world.”

Iran condemned it as a “blatant violation of national sovereignty.”

Canada said little, except that it was “monitoring developments closely.”

The dramatic U.S. capture of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro was cheered by world leaders allied with President Trump, and condemned by those who oppose him.

Other countries responded carefully to news of the covert U.S. operation, hoping to stay out of the cross hairs of a famously vindictive American president who wields tariffs freely — and who has hinted at a willingness to broaden his military campaign.

On Saturday, as details emerged about the early morning apprehension of Maduro and his wife from their Caracas home by special operations forces and the White House plan to exploit Venezuela’s vast oil reserves, Trump boasted that he is “reasserting American power in a very powerful way” and suggested that he may target Cuba, Colombia and Mexico next.

Advertisement

Venezuelans celebrate in Madrid, Spain, after President Trump announced that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro had been captured and flown out of the country on Saturday.

(Bernat Armangue / AP)

At a news conference, Trump said he wants to “help the people in Cuba,” which he described as a “failing nation,” and threatened military action in Colombia, whose leftist President Gustavo Petro has been one of Trump’s most vocal critics.

Trump asserted, without evidence, that Petro is a drug trafficker and warned that Colombia’s leader should “watch his ass.”

Advertisement

In an interview with Fox News on Saturday, Trump also revived warnings that U.S. forces may intervene in Mexico, one of America’s closest allies.

“The cartels are running Mexico,” he said. “We have to do something.”

Some conservative leaders in Mexico welcome the prospect of U.S. drone strikes on cartel targets, and in recent polls about half of Mexicans surveyed said they support U.S. help with combating organized crime.

World & Nation

Many Mexicans, desperate for security, now back limited U.S. military help against cartels despite President Claudia Sheinbaum’s vow to bar foreign intervention. President Trump has offered to send U.S. forces into Mexico to hunt down cartels.

Dec. 5, 2025

But Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has repeatedly insisted that she will not allow the U.S. military to fight drug cartels inside her nation’s borders.

“It’s not going to happen,” she said late last year when Trump threatened such an operation. “We don’t want intervention by any foreign government.”

She reposted a statement by her Foreign Ministry on Saturday that said “the government of Mexico vigorously condemns and rejects the military actions carried out unilaterally in recent hours by the armed forces of the United States of America against targets in the territory of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.”

Sheinbaum also mentioned the United Nation’s Charter, which says members of the body “shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state.”

Advertisement

People take part in a demonstration against U.S. military action in Venezuela in front of the White House in Washington on Saturday.

(MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Trump’s actions prompted a rare statement from Andrés Manuel López Obrador, whose term as Mexico’s president ended in 2024, and who has rarely spoken publicly since his retirement.

“I am retired from politics, but my libertarian convictions prevent me from remaining silent in the face of the arrogant attack on the sovereignty of the Venezuelan people and the kidnapping of their president,” said López Obrador, who formed a friendship with Trump during the first Trump presidency. “Neither [Simon] Bolívar nor Lincoln would accept the United States government acting as a global tyranny.”

He told Trump not to bend to the will of advisers pressing for military actions. “Tell the hawks to go to hell; you have the capacity to act with practical judgment,” López Obrador said.

In Latin America, the Middle East and in other parts of the world familiar with the long shadow of American intervention, Saturday’s operation stirred memories of past U.S. air strikes, coups d’état and military invasions.

“The bombings on Venezuelan territory and the capture of its president cross an unacceptable line,” said Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. He said Maduro’s ouster recalled “the darkest moments of [U.S.] interference in Latin America and the Caribbean.”

Advertisement

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, without mentioning specifics or possilbe new targets, viewed the action against Maduro as setting “a dangerous precedent,” according to his spokesperson, Stephane Dujarric.

“He’s deeply concerned that the rules of international law have not been respected,” Dujarric said of Guterres.

World & Nation

U.S. gunboat diplomacy returns as President Trump threatens Venezuela invasion and sanctions Colombia. He also has worked to support right-wing admirers in Brazil and Argentina.

Nov. 1, 2025

U.S. intervention in the region dates back 200 years, when President James Monroe declared Latin America off limits to European colonization and began a campaign to establish the U.S. as a hemispheric power.

Over decades, the U.S. carried out an array of interventions, from military invasions to covert operations to economic pressure campaigns. Motivations ranged from fighting communism to protecting U.S. business interests.

In his Saturday news conference, Trump hailed the Monroe Doctrine, which many in Latin American have condemned as an imperialist blueprint.

“We’ve superceded it by a lot,” Trump said of the doctrine. “American dominance in the Western Hemisphere will never be questioned again.”

Advertisement

While many countries in Latin America criticized the U.S. campaign in Venezuela, others applauded it, highlighting the stark political divisions here.

“The time is coming for all the narco-Chavista criminals,” wrote conservative Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa on X, referring to followers of Hugo Chávez, the late leftist revolutionary who served as president of Venezuela before Maduro. “Their structure will finally collapse across the entire continent.”

El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, who last year housed Venezuelan deportees from the United States in his country’s most notorious prison, posted a photograph issued by the United States Saturday of Maduro blindfolded and in handcuffs.

The foreign ministry of Uruguay, meanwhile said it rejected “military intervention by one country in the territory of another.”

The actions in Venezuela reverberated globally.

Beijing, which has sought to expand its influence in Latin America in recent decades, said in a statement that “China is deeply shocked and strongly condemns the U.S.’s blatant use of force against a sovereign state and its action against its president.”

Iran, whose leadership frets about being in the cross hairs of a similar U.S. operation, said the action in Venezuela “represents a grave breach of regional and international peace and security.”

Advertisement

“Its consequences affect the entire international system,” it said.

More to Read

Source