IMPUNITY IS CONTAGIOUS: U.S. ATTACK ON VENEZUELA SHOWS THE COST OF GLOBAL INACTION

The Global Sumud Flotilla unequivocally condemns the United States’ military assault on the sovereign state of Venezuela, including today’s unprecedented strike on Caracas on January 3, 2026, and the reported seizure and removal of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.

A foreign power conducting military strikes far from its own territory, killing and injuring civilians, and unilaterally removing another country’s head of state crosses every legal and ethical red line.

This escalation did not occur in a vacuum.

For months, U.S. forces have carried out lethal attacks on civilian boats near Venezuelan waters, falsely framed as counter-narcotics operations—without congressional authorization, without transparency, and with total impunity.

These strikes also cannot be separated from the United States’ years-long blockade and sanctions regime against Venezuela, which has intentionally inflicted widespread civilian harm by restricting access to fuel, food, medicine, and basic economic life, constituting collective punishment under international law. Together, the blockade, the maritime attacks on civilian vessels, and the assault on Caracas form a continuous pattern of unlawful force, prohibited under the UN Charter and customary international law.

The hypocrisy is stark. The United States claims the authority to seize a foreign head of state on allegations of narcotics trafficking, while simultaneously financing, arming, and politically shielding the mass killing of civilians and children in Gaza. This is not law enforcement. It is an attempt to legitimize domination, while far more egregious crimes and those who commit them are excused or actively enabled.

This pattern mirrors a broader global failure. When powerful states are allowed to violate international law without consequence, whether through the systematic bombardment, blockade, and siege of Palestinians, or through extraterritorial military assaults in the Caribbean, the message is unmistakable: international law applies selectively, if at all.

The result is not peace or security. It is a more dangerous world, where civilian protections are hollowed out, sovereignty is disposable, and legal norms meant to prevent war are reduced to rhetoric.

We reject the normalization of extrajudicial punishment, cross-border military seizures, and the erosion of national sovereignty.

No state, no matter how powerful, is above international law. Not the United States. Not the Israeli regime. The legitimacy of international law depends on its universal enforcement, not selective invocation.

Global Sumud Flotilla
End the Siege. End Impunity & Complicity.

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