[speech given to the United Nations security council on 5 January 2026]
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Mr. President, distinguished members of the Security Council, the issue before the council today is not the character of the government of Venezuela.
The issue is whether any member state by force, coercion, or economic strangulation has the right to determine Venezuela’s political future or to exercise control over its affairs. This question goes directly to article 2, section 4 of the United Nations Charter, which prohibits the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state.
The council must decide whether that prohibition is to be upheld or abandoned. Abandoning it would carry consequences of the gravest kind.
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COVERT REGIME CHANGE
Let me offer some background.
Since 1947, the United States foreign policy has repeatedly employed force, covert action, and political manipulation to bring about regime change in other countries. This is a matter of carefully documented historical record.
In her book, Covert Regime Change, political scientist Lindsey O’ Rourke documents 70 attempted US regime change operations between 1947 and 1989 alone.
These practices did not end with the Cold War. Since 1989, major United States’ regime change operations undertaken without authorization by the Security Council have included, among the most consequential:
Iraq 2003
Libya 2011
Syria beginning in 2011
Honduras 2009
Ukraine 2014 and
Venezuela from 2002 onward.
MODUS OPERANDI
The methods employed are well established and well documented.
They include:
– open warfare
– covert intelligence operations
– instigation of unrest
– support for armed groups
– manipulation of mass and social media
– bribery of military and civilian officials
– targeted assassinations
– false flag operations, and
– economic warfare.
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ILLEGAL MEASURES
These measures are illegal under the UN charter and they typically result in ongoing violence, lethal conflict, political instability, and deep suffering of the civilian population.
The recent US record with respect to Venezuela is also clear.
In April 2002, the US knew of and approved an attempted coup against the government.
In the 2010s, the United States funded civil society groups actively engaged in anti-government protests. When the government cracked down on the protest, the US followed with a series of sanctions.
In 2015, President Barack Obama declared Venezuela to be, and I quote, “an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States”.
In 2017, at a dinner with Latin American leaders on the margin of the UN General Assembly, President Trump openly discussed the option of the US invading Venezuela to overthrow the government.
During 2017 to 2020, the United States imposed sweeping sanctions on the state oil company Pedesa. Oil production fell by 75% from 2016 to 2020 and the real GDP per capita declined by 62%.
The UN General Assembly has repeatedly voted overwhelmingly against such unilateral coercive measures. Under international law, only the Security Council has the authority to impose such measures.
On the 23rd of January 2019, the United States unilaterally recognized Mr. Juan Gaido as interim president and a few days later froze approximately $7 billion of Venezuelan sovereign assets held abroad and gave the designated authority over certain of these assets. These actions form part of a continuous US regime change effort spanning more than two decades.
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ONE YEAR, SEVEN COUNTRIES
In the past year, the United States has carried out bombing operations in seven countries, none of which were authorized by the UN Security Council and none of which were undertaken in lawful self-defense under the charter. The targeted countries include Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, and now Venezuela.
In the past month, President Trump has issued direct threats against six UN member states, including Colombia, Denmark, Iran, Mexico, Nigeria, and of course, Venezuela.
Members of the council are not called upon to judge Nicholas Maduro. They are not called upon to assess whether the recent US attack and ongoing naval quarantine results in freedom or in subjugation.
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YOU MUST DEFEND INTERNATIONAL LAW
Members of the council are called upon to defend international law and specifically the UN charter. The realist school of international relations articulated most brilliantly by John Mearsheimer accurately describes the condition of international anarchy as the tragedy of great power politics.
Realism is therefore a description, not a solution for peace. Its own conclusion is that anarchy leads to tragedy. In the aftermath of World War I, the League of Nations was created to end the tragedy through the application of international law. Yet, the world’s leading nations failed to defend international law in the 1930s, leading to renewed global war.
The United Nations emerged from that catastrophe as humanity’s second great effort to place international law above international anarchy. In the words of the charter, the UN was created, quote, to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind.
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AFFIRM SIX ACTIONS
Given that we are in the nuclear age, failure cannot be repeated. Humanity would perish. There would be no third chance to fulfill its responsibilities under the charter.
The Security Council should immediately affirm the following actions.
– The United States shall immediately cease and desist from all explicit and implicit threats or use force against Venezuela.
– The United States shall terminate its naval quarantine and all related coercive military measures undertaken in the absence of authorization by the UN Security Council.
– The United States shall immediately withdraw its military forces from within and along the perimeter of Venezuela, including intelligence, naval, air, and other forward deployed assets positioned for coercive purposes.
– Venezuela shall adhere to the UN charter and to the human rights protected in the universal declaration of human rights.
– The Secretary General, I recommend, should immediately appoint a special envoy mandated to engage relevant Venezuelan and international stakeholders and to report back to the Security Council within 14 days with recommendations consistent with the charter and the Security Council should remain urgently seized of this matter.
– All member states should refrain from unilateral threats, coercive measures, or armed actions undertaken outside the authority of the UN Security Council.
In closing, Mr. President and distinguished members of the council, peace and the survival of humanity depend on whether the United Nations Charter remains a living instrument of international law or is allowed to wither into irrelevance.
That is the choice before this council today.
Image at the top shows Jeffrey Sachs in Brazil. Source: Lula official