US Ambassador to the United Nations (UN) Mike Walz told the UN Security Council in New York tonight that "there is no war in Venezuela," despite US airstrikes on the country and the kidnapping of its president and first lady, Nicolas Maduro and Cilia Flores.
"We are not occupying a country. This was a law enforcement operation conducted on the basis of legal indictments that have existed for decades," added Volz, arguing that there is precedent for this type of action, alluding to the US capture of former Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega in 1989.
According to him, "indisputable evidence of the crimes attributed to Nicolas Maduro will be publicly presented in the American judiciary."
Volz added that Maduro is charged with, among other things, narco-terrorism, conspiracy to import cocaine and arms trafficking.
"Maduro is not just an accused drug trafficker. He was a self-proclaimed, illegitimate president," Volz said, according to the French newspaper Le Monde on its website.
Waltz added that US President Donald Trump has given diplomacy a chance.
"I want to reiterate that President Trump gave diplomacy a chance. He made several offers to Maduro and tried to calm the situation. Maduro refused," said the US ambassador to the UN.
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