Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has urged for “dialogue and diplomacy” following news of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s capture during a US airstrike.
“The Australian Government is monitoring developments in Venezuela,” Albanese wrote on social media earlier today. “We urge all parties to support dialogue and diplomacy in order to secure regional stability and prevent escalation.”
US President Donald Trump announced the operation in a social media post overnight, saying his administration hit Venezuela’s capital, Caracas, with large-scale strikes as part of a successful attempt to pluck Venezuela’s leader from the country.
The operation involved more than 150 aircraft and took months to plan and rehearse. It’s reported Maduro was dragged from his bedroom during the raids.
Following the strikes, Maduro boarded a US warship en route to New York, where Trump says he and his wife Cilia Flores — who was also seized during the strike — will face trial.
“Late last night and early today, at my direction, the United States armed forces conducted an extraordinary military operation in the capital of Venezuela,” Trump told the media, per The Sydney Morning Herald.
“Overwhelming American military power, air, land and sea, was used to launch a spectacular assault. It was an assault like people have not seen since World War Two,” Trump added.
The military action follows months of escalating tensions between the US and Venezuela, a country which Trump accused of operating as a “narco-terrorist” regime under Maduro’s dictatorship.
Trump shared images of a captured Maduro onboard the USS Iwo Jima warship following the operation. The handcuffed leader is seen in a tracksuit wearing large black glasses and headphones.
Venezuela’s Vice President, Delcy Rodriguez, called for unity while condemning Maduro’s “kidnapping” and calling for his and Flores’ immediate release, per The Sydney Morning Herald.
In the wake of the capture, Trump insisted that the US will “run the country” of Venezuela “until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition” following Maduro’s criminal trial.
In the meantime, Trump said the US government will take control of Venezuela’s oil business and sell “large amounts” of it to other countries.
Reactions to the operation have been divisive.
Some figures, including UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, have expressed concerns around whether Trump violated international law in seizing Maduro, while others, including Venezuelan citizens, were seen celebrating his capture on the streets of Caracas, per the ABC.
Albanese mentioned each of these sentiments in his statement today.
He said Australia has “long held concerns about the situation in Venezuela”, including threats to democratic principles and fundamental freedoms, but added that the government also “support[s] international law and a peaceful, democratic transition in Venezuela”.
At the time of writing, it’s reported that Maduro landed at a military base in the US. A large military plane was seen flanked by DEA officers on a tarmac in Newburgh, New York.
Lead images: Getty Images
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