Venezuela’s allies were quick on Saturday to condemn US strikes on the country, which ended with the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry condemned what it called a US “act of armed aggression” against Venezuela in a statement posted on its Telegram channel.
“Venezuela must be guaranteed the right to determine its own destiny without any destructive, let alone military, outside intervention,” the statement said.
The ministry called for dialogue to prevent further escalation and said it reaffirmed its “solidarity” with the Venezuelan people and government, adding that Russia supports calls for an emergency UN Security Council meeting.
Cuba, a supporter of the Maduro government and a longtime adversary of the United States, called for the international community to respond to what President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez called “the criminal attack.”
“Our zone of peace is being brutally assaulted,” he said on X.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry also condemned the strikes.
Tehran called the attack "a blatant violation of national sovereignty and territorial integrity" and urged the Security Council to intervene to stop the "unlawful aggression."
Colombian President Gustavo Petro said he ordered the deployment of military forces to the Venezuelan border.
Petro described Washington's actions as an "assault on the sovereignty" of Latin America and said they would result in a humanitarian crisis.
While proposing that the situation could be resolved through "dialogue," the leftist president said on X that he had also ordered the "deployment of the security forces" to the Venezuelan border.
Washington has not made such a direct intervention in Latin America since the invasion of Panama in 1989 to depose military leader Manuel Noriega, over similar allegations.
"The United States of America has successfully carried out a large scale strike against Venezuela and its leader, President Nicolas Maduro, who has been, along with his wife, captured and flown out of the country," Trump said in a Truth Social post.
The US had accused Maduro of running a "narco-state" and rigging last year's election, which the opposition said it won overwhelmingly.
