Thebe Mabanga
South Africa on Saturday called for the United Nations Security Council to urgently convene as the United States confirmed that Venezuela’s President, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife Cilia Flores, had been charged with drug and weapons charges after being captured and removed from their home country.
Their arrests followed a pre-dawn attack known as Operation Absolute Resolve, in Caracas and the states of Miranda, Aragua and La Guaira. The attack was condemned by Venezuela and some of its regional neighbours, and Russia, among others.
The Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) said it noted the developments with “grave concern” and described them as a “manifest violation” of the United Nations Charter, which protects sovereignty and prevents countries from taking military action against each other.
“History has repeatedly demonstrated that military invasions against sovereign states only yield instability and deepening crisis,” DIRCO said in a statement.
“Unlawful, unilateral force of this nature undermines the stability of international order and the principle of equality among nations.”
DIRCO said the Security Council, as the body charged with maintaining international peace and security, should urgently address the situation. The appeal comes as five countries — Bahrain, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Latvia and Liberia — begin their 2026–27 terms as elected council members.
United States Attorney General Pam Bondi confirmed that Maduro and Flores had been indicted in the Southern District of New York, citing allegations including narco-terrorism and drug-trafficking-related conspiracies and weapons-related counts.
“They will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts,” Bondi said via X.
US prosecutors previously announced narco-terrorism and related charges against Maduro in 2020. It is unclear whether Saturday’s filing is new or builds on the earlier case.
In 2025, the US stepped up maritime operations it said were aimed at drug-trafficking routes linked to Venezuela, including intercepting “go-fast” boats in Caribbean waters near Venezuela. It carried out military strikes on convoys of suspected drug vessels, with the US Coast Guard involved in follow-up searches.
Ahead of a press briefing on Saturday at 7 pm South African time, Trump confirmed that he had a telephonic conversation with Maduro and urged him to surrender power. Maduro declined, which led to the operation.
Trump described the attack as “spectacular,” “extraordinary,” and “stunning” at the briefing, and compared it to the air strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities in June 2025.
He said that Venezuela sent dangerous criminal elements into the United States from its jails and mental institutions.
On Venezuela governance, Trump said America “will run the country until a safe, peaceful, judicious transition can take place”.
Trump said the United States was prepared to carry out a second, larger attack, but would probably not need to.
He said that American oil companies would enter Venezuela and rebuild oil refining infrastructure, and help Venezuela’s oil fields pump oil to their full potential.
Trump maintained that America built the Venezuelan oil industry, which was then “taken away” by the socialist government through nationalisation.
He declared, “The Western hemisphere is now a safer place.”
Trump repeated the claim that Maduro was the head of a criminal network that exported illicit drugs to the United States.
The South African Communist Party (SACP) condemned the attack as a “criminal military invasion,” saying that it was a violation of international law.
“The US’s latest criminal aggression in Venezuela is the culmination of a series of threats and political rhetoric by Donald Trump towards Venezuela and its president and deserves only the strongest condemnation,” it said.
The SACP said that “the objective of the predatory Trump administration is imperial regime change in order to seize the strategic resources of Venezuela, in particular its oil and minerals”.
The operation reportedly involved 150 aircraft from 20 bases, deploying across the Western Hemisphere after months of intelligence planning to track Maduro.
The plan was allegedly finalised in December, with early January chosen to take advantage of improved weather conditions. Forces reportedly reached Maduro’s compound at about 2 am Caracas time.
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