World Reacts as US Captures Venezuelan President

TaiwanPlus News

From jubilation to indignation, global reactions to the US capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro are deeply split. And as Venezuela reaches a crossroads, some wonder what it all means for the rules-based international order.

Transcript

00:00Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro descends a plane in the U.S. state of New York, surrounded

00:05by law enforcement.

00:07Hours ago, he was thousands of kilometers away in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas.

00:12But a U.S. mission has captured him, and he now faces a range of charges, including narco-terrorism

00:17conspiracy.

00:19What comes next for Maduro's country is hard to say.

00:24U.S. President Donald Trump offered few details about his administration's plan, but he says

00:29the U.S. will, quote, run Venezuela, for the time being, with a focus on the country's

00:33oil infrastructure.

00:34The infrastructure is old, it's rotted.

00:38Much of it is stuff that we put there 25 years ago, and we're going to be replacing it.

00:43And we're going to take a lot of money out so that we can take care of the country.

00:48Trump says U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has spoken with Venezuelan Vice President Delcy

00:53Rodriguez.

00:54Multiple sources say she is in Russia, though.

00:57And so, after more than 12 years with Maduro in charge, Venezuela is in flux.

01:04Reaction has been immediate and sharp, especially around Latin America.

01:09Close to 8 million people have fled abroad under Maduro's presidency, as Venezuela's economy

01:14and human rights situation suffered.

01:17Among these anti-Maduro exiles, there's jubilation.

01:20It's a joy, an emotion, like I was telling you right now, it's something you carry in

01:27your heart, locked up for years.

01:29We want a free country.

01:31We want to get out of this government.

01:33We want to have a future.

01:35The youth, while us.

01:37The youth who want to have freedom in our country, to express ourselves, to say what we

01:41feel, to have a dream.

01:48But cities like Buenos Aires saw protests against what some see as a fresh act of U.S. imperialism,

01:53in a region where it has toppled governments in the past.

01:56Most recently, Panama, in 1989.

01:59We stand against the Yankee bombings with the same conviction with which we confronted

02:05and supported the Venezuelan people's struggle against the Maduro dictatorship.

02:09We are clear.

02:11Peace will not come with the United States killer bombs.

02:14No more wars for empire!

02:17No more wars for empire!

02:19In the U.S. too, views are sharply split.

02:22In New York's Times Square, filled just days before with New Year revelers, some Donald

02:27Trump critics gathered to condemn the U.S. intervention.

02:30His only interest is oil and greed and corruption.

02:35And that is who he allies himself with, and that is what he is.

02:40He's a greedy, corrupt criminal.

02:44And he doesn't speak to, for me and for most of America, I would say.

02:50But there are also some who want the U.S. to punish Maduro harshly and criticize those who are protesting.

02:57These people aren't Venezuelan. None of these people here are from Venezuela.

03:01They're being paid. These people don't know anything. They're supporting Maduro.

03:06Amid all this reaction are broader concerns about what this means for the international order

03:12and the rules that are supposed to uphold it and check the use of force.

03:16But this is a slap in the face of those rules, saying that somehow President Trump gets to decide

03:22what is the right to use military force.

03:25And that is going to cause great dissension in the world.

03:30For Maduro, maybe held somewhere in this police convoy, this might be the end of the road.

03:36But for Venezuela and the world, it could be the start of a deeply uncertain chapter.

03:42Alex Chen and John Van Trieste for Taiwan Plus.

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