Venezuela denounces ‘illegal and immoral military threat’ by the US in the Caribbean at the UN

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, accused by the United States of leading a drug trafficking network, had the country’s Foreign Minister, Yvan Gil Pinto, represent Venezuela at the United Nations General Assembly on Friday. Pinto used his speech at the UN to describe the American military presence in the Caribbean as an ‘illegal and immoral threat.’ This statement comes amid a military crisis between Venezuela and the US, with both countries escalating their military forces in the region.
The Venezuelan official delivered a speech focused on recounting the ‘Venezuelan struggle,’ from the arrival of colonizers in South America to the present day, marked by American military presence in the Caribbean. In recent weeks, the US has conducted a series of attacks on Venezuelan vessels—which President Donald Trump claims are involved in drug trafficking.
Pinto reinforced the argument that the American offensive in the region is part of a sequence of ‘countless aggressions’ by international powers against the country in the last decade. According to him, these actions aim to ‘seize Venezuela’s natural resources’ and ‘promote a regime change’ in the country. Among the attacks, he mentioned drone incursions, economic warfare, and sanctions against the Venezuelan oil industry.
‘Now, to all this is added an absolutely illegal and completely immoral military threat that violates the United Nations Charter, Venezuela’s rights as a sovereign state, and even US law,’ he declared.
After listing a history of aggressions and occupations led by the US in recent years—in Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, and the ‘criminal bombing of the peaceful republic of Iran’—the Foreign Minister stated that Venezuela is ‘the next target’ for the Americans.
‘As Venezuela cannot be accused of having nuclear weapons, they invent vulgar and perverse lies in which no one, neither in the US nor in the world, believes, to justify a savage, extravagant, and immoral million-dollar military threat,’ he said, referring to American attacks on Iran.
In August, President Trump announced the deployment of naval forces to the Caribbean, supposedly to combat drug cartels in the region. This move raised concerns in Venezuela, where President Nicolás Maduro is accused of leading a criminal organization known as the Cartel of the Suns, associated with the local military command, and a $50 million reward is offered for information leading to his capture—Caracas denies any connection between Maduro or his commanders with the group.
Since then, at least three boats accused of being linked to drug trafficking have been destroyed by the US—including an attack at the beginning of the month that resulted in the death of 11 people, sparking questions about the legality of US actions, even among Trump’s opposition lawmakers. So far, the White House denies having plans to overthrow Maduro.
On the Venezuelan side, the government ordered its Armed Forces to be on high alert and launched a campaign for citizens to join voluntary militias, an initiative that, according to the Miraflores Palace, attracted millions of people. In recent days, basic firearms training exercises and combat tactics have also been scheduled.
Finally, the Minister emphasized that Venezuela has the ‘right to defend its sovereignty and peace in the Caribbean and throughout South America,’ and made political statements taking positions on various current conflicts, such as Israel’s offensive in Gaza, which he described as a ‘genocide.’ In his speech at the UN, Pinto also clearly defended Russia—a country with which Venezuela signed a strategic partnership treaty last week amid Trump’s offensive—and its invasion of Ukraine, which sparked a war that has lasted more than three years.
‘We stand with President [Vladimir] Putin and the noble Russian people in their fight against neo-Nazism and Western military aggression,’ the Foreign Minister stated.