France condemns US operation to capture Venezuelan President Maduro

AFP , Saturday 3 Jan 2026

France on Saturday condemned the American operation that resulted in the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, saying it undermined international law while no solution to the country's crisis can be imposed from the outside.

Jean-Noel Barrot
File Photo: French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot. AFP

 

Maduro "gravely violated" the rights of Venezuelans, but the military operation that led to him being grabbed "contravenes the principle of non-use of force, which underpins international law", Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot wrote on X.

"No lasting political solution can be imposed from the outside", he said, warning that "the increasing violations" of this principle by permanent UN Security Council members "will have serious consequences for global security, sparing no one".

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