The United States has overthrown the President of Venezuela in violation of the United Nations

Charter and the U.S. Constitution.

Early on the morning of January 3rd, President Donald Trump sent U.S. Special Forces to kidnap

the country's president, Nicholas Maduro, blindfolding and handcuffing him, then bringing him to the

US to stand trial on four criminal counts. That's narco-terrorism, conspiracy to import cocaine,

and two counts of possession of machine guns and dangerous devices. In the process of abducting

Maduro, U.S. forces actually killed dozens, perhaps as many as 80 people, a fact that frequently

went unmentioned in U.S. media coverage of Maduro's capture. The coup in Venezuela is illegitimate and illegal.

Invading a sovereign country violates the UN Charter's prohibition on the use of force

except in self-defense against an armed attack.

Venezuela hadn't attacked the United States, and claiming that importing drugs is violence

is like claiming that importing drugs is violence is like claiming

that importing unlicensed beer is violence.

The Constitution also vests the power to make war in Congress, and it is plainly an act of war

to invade a country and kidnap its head of state, killing dozens of its people.

It's also not even clear why US courts can claim jurisdiction

over Nicholas Maduro for acts like possessing machine guns that were committed in Venezuela.

Now, there's certainly a precedent for kidnapping foreign heads of state and trying them in

US courts. George H.W. Bush did the same thing to Panama's Manuel Noriega,

an act that was condemned by the United Nations General Assembly and the European Parliament

as a blatant and flagrant violation of international law. The hypocrisy of this supposed

anti-war, anti-regime change president we have is galling, but the fact is

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