Following the US intervention in Venezuela and the kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife during the US military operation, about seventy human rights activists and representatives of NGOs gathered on Wednesday afternoon in front of the US Embassy in Luxembourg to express their opposition to these actions.
The demonstrators viewed the military operation in Venezuela as a serious violation of international law and criticised the US government for its conduct. The Peace and Solidarity Platform urged both the Luxembourgish government and the European Union (EU) to clarify their positions and respond to what it called an escalation of force that lacked legal mandate.
According to the Peace and Solidarity Platform, the military operation ordered by the US President in Venezuela constitutes a serious violation of international law. Military action would be neither covered by a mandate from the UN Security Council, nor legitimised by a formal decision of the US Congress, said Marc Burggraff of the Peace and Solidarity Platform.
He warned that the operation could mark the beginning of a wider strategy. “Trump’s goals are not limited to one country, it’s to gain control over an entire region”, he said. “If we let it go this first time, then it will happen again. And then, when it’s a second time, there will be a third. He will not stop.” Burggraff also drew parallels with US domestic policy: “Looking at the way the military is being unleashed onto cities, the way people are being harassed... we will see the same internationally if we don’t say once and for all: enough is enough.”
The platform stressed that Venezuela posed no military threat to the United States, and that the US government’s actions constitute a clear breach of the UN Charter and the principles of international law.
The group also directed its demands beyond the United States: “To the USA, that we condemn this; and to Luxembourg and the EU, that we find a common line and ensure member states denounce this act. Venezuela is under attack now, in a few days, it could be Colombia or Cuba. The USA has, however, made it very clear that Greenland is also on the list. And with Greenland, we have effectively reached Europe; Greenland is part of Denmark, Denmark is part of the EU and NATO, and then we are in a catastrophic situation.”
The Luxembourg Platform for Peace and Solidarity called for the respect of Venezuela’s state sovereignty and the avoidance of any further military escalation. It urged Luxembourg and the EU to adopt a firm stance against unilateral military interventions and to send a clear signal against what it described as a new wave of re-colonisation in Latin America. “The aim should be to strengthen the rule of law, not to enforce the law of the jungle”, the organisation concluded.
