The US attack on Venezuela and the collapse of international law
The intervention exposes how great-power geopolitics have hollowed out the UN Charter system.

The intervention exposes how great-power geopolitics have hollowed out the UN Charter system.



![Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado speaks at the Heritage Foundation on January 16 [J Scott Applewhite/AP Photo]](/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/AP26016622066184-1768595111.jpg?resize=770%2C513&quality=80)





Machado has argued that the opposition has a ‘mandate’ to succeed Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
Trump showers acting Venezuelan president with praise after first phone call since US abduction of President Maduro.
The announcement contradicts claims from local rights groups that no more than 70 prisoners have been freed.
The Venezuelan opposition figure has been largely frozen out of US discussions over the country’s future.
Penitentiary Services Ministry says those freed had been ‘deprived of their liberty’ for disruptive acts.

Risk analyst Ian Bremmer argues that the US is undoing the global system that it built over decades.
Venezuela is Cuba’s biggest oil supplier, but no shipments have departed Venezuelan ports since Maduro’s abduction.
Whether Trump or Rodriguez, running Venezuela will need the help of its military, which has incentives to strike a deal.
Experts said oil execs gave a ‘less-than-full-throated’ approval as they waited on terms from US and Venezuela.