By Li Jiasheng
On the early morning of January 3, 2026, the US launched a military strike against Venezuela and forcibly captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, who were taken to the US afterwards. At the press conference following the operation, the US side said they would "run" Venezuela until they could do a "safe" transition.
The US, putting the UN aside and flagrantly disregarding the basic norms of international relations based on the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, used force against a sovereign state and abducted its head of state, which represents a blatant act of hegemonism and unilateralism, seriously threatening peace and security in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Previously, the US government, under the pretext of combating "narco-terrorism", launched Operation Southern Spear and incorporated the Venezuelan government on the list of "foreign terrorist organizations". In fact, recent reports from the US Drug Enforcement Administration indicate that Venezuela is not the primary source of drugs flowing into the US. The rampancy of drugs in the US is closely linked to its failure of border import and export control and ineffectiveness of social governance. Attributing its failure of domestic governance to the so-called "drug trafficking" by other countries is no less than a fig leaf by the US government to disguise its military operations. Now, the fig leaf has been completely torn off. The US side said that it will take over Venezuela. Major US oil companies will enter Venezuela to "rebuild" the severely dilapidated oil infrastructure and start generating profits. It unveils the true purpose behind the US military operations against Venezuela—controlling strategic resources such as oil, natural gas, and key minerals by military might, and demonstrating its military hegemony over the Latin American region to the outside world while maintaining the hegemony of the US dollar.
If stronger and larger countries are allowed to freely invade weaker and smaller ones simply by their strength, the norms of sovereignty will be completely overturned, and humanity will return to the "law of the jungle" where every weaker and smaller country will be in peril. Therefore, the justice of humanity's pursuit of civilization and progress will find no foothold! The actions of the US government are no different from opening the Pandora's Box, which will bring about serious negative effects.
The contemporary world has entered a new period of turbulence and transformation, and human society is confronted with major common challenges. At this critical juncture, all countries should join hands to safeguard peace and seek common development. Major global and regional powers bear greater responsibilities for leading human civilization and progress. Anyone who moves against the historical trend will eventually suffer harm.
The author is from the Center for Asia-Europe Studies (CAES), Xi'an Jiaotong University .