Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) slammed the U.S. operation that captured Venezuela's authoritarian President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, saying it is not aimed at countering drug-trafficking.
"It's not about drugs. If it was, Trump wouldn't have pardoned one of the largest narco traffickers in the world last month. It's about oil and regime change. And they need a trial now to pretend that it isn't. Especially to distract from Epstein + skyrocketing healthcare costs," she claimed in a social media publication.
Several governments that have been critical of Trump have criticized the operation. One of them was Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who claimed the government has deployed "public forces" at the border with Venezuela following the operation.
In a social media publication, Petro also said that Colombia deployed "assistance forces" in case of a "massive refugee influx."
"The Colombian government rejects this aggression to Venezuela's and Latin America's sovereignty. Internal conflicts among peoples are solved by those people in peace. This is the principle of self-determination of the peoples that is the base of the UN system," Petro said in another passage of the post.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, on her end, posted a statement saying the country is making an "urgent call to respect international law, as well as principles and purposes of the UN Charter, and to cease any act of aggression against the Venezuelan government and people."
The document goes on to say that "Latin America and the Caribbean is a zone of peace, built on the basis of mutual respect, peaceful controversies resolution and the proscription of the threat and use of force, so any military action puts regional stability at great risk."
The attack has been also condemned by Russia and Iran, two allies of Maduro. Moscow called the development an "act of armed aggression against Venezuela."
"This is deeply concerning and condemnable," Moscow added in a statement on Saturday. "The pretexts used to justify such actions are unfounded."
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