Dear John,
On January 3, the United States launched a major military operation against Venezuela, capturing President Nicolás Maduro and his wife to face criminal charges in the Southern District of New York.
President Trump announced that the U.S. would be “running” Venezuela for an undetermined period and that American oil companies would take the lead in rebuilding and managing Venezuela’s immense oil assets and infrastructure.
The attack and capture raise serious questions about the lack of constitutionally required Congressional authorization, as well as violations of international law and national sovereignty.
Bypassing Congressional Authorization
The President did not seek permission from, nor inform, Congress prior to the attack. Instead, the President dismissed these Constitutional concerns raised by members of Congress, labelling them complainers who should just be praising the outcome of the operation instead of worrying about its legality.
Violating International Law and National Sovereignty
The U.S. actions have drawn widespread criticism for violating international law and the fundamental rule of law principles that underlie world order. The United Nations Secretary General described the operation as a dangerous precedent. Yet following the attack, President Trump issued lightly veiled threats against Cuba, Colombia, Mexico, and Greenland – nations that might stand in the way of his pursuit of his concept of American interests.
In a CNN interview yesterday, White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy, Stephen Miller, was more explicit. He dismissed the notion of “international niceties and anything else,” and asserted that the world is governed by strength, force, and power. Miller ominously also stated that, under President Trump, the United States will conduct itself as a superpower, and that Greenland should be a part of the overall security apparatus of the United States.
This outright dismissal of international law poses a grave danger to our country and the world.
Drugs Or Oil?
In public remarks justifying military action, the President repeatedly cited oil interests (no mention of democracy) and ignored the fact that the indictment against Maduro focuses on narco-terrorism and conspiracy to import cocaine. The administration also ignored the stunning hypocrisy arising from the President’s recent pardon of former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, shortly after his conviction in federal court of conspiring to traffic more than 400 tons of cocaine.
The President’s continued references to Venezuelan oil belies the most likely motive for the action. Venezuela has the world’s largest proven oil reserves. If the principal purpose of the removal of Maduro is to facilitate the confiscation of the Venezuelan oil industry and redistribute the oil to U.S. companies, that would be an illegal appropriation under international law and akin to 17th or 18th-century colonialism.
