New Delhi, Jan 3 (PTI) The US strike on Venezuela, and the capture of President Nicolas Maduro, is “unbelievable” and will set a “bad precedent”, as other powers may try to undertake similar actions in future citing the American move, Indian experts on strategic affairs said on Saturday.
They also termed it a “very dangerous” and “aggressive step” taken by the Donald Trump administration.
“The United States of America has successfully carried out a large-scale strike against Venezuela and its leader, President Nicolas Maduro, who has been, along with his wife, captured and flown out of the country,” US President Donald Trump said in a post on Truth Social after the strike early Saturday.
The American action, which has hogged global headlines, followed a long period of tension between the US and the Maduro administration, which has been facing criticism from many of its own citizens in Venezuela over multiple allegations.
Former diplomat and strategic affairs expert Rajiv Dogra said, “Quite frankly, this is unbelievable. I mean, it has still not sunk in, because, in a way, this is unprecedented in recent times.” It may have happened in previous centuries, when someone would “invade countries”, capture leaders of those countries or kill them, but in recent times, “we’ve not heard of any country acting with such little regard for law, custom or reason”, Dogra said.
“Trump has broken all the traditions, all the sanctities of sovereignty by indulging in such acts,” Dogra alleged.
The former diplomat, during an interaction with PTI Videos, argued that whether President Maduro was liked by the people of Venezuela is “a different thing” which is “for Venezuelans to decide”.
But for Trump to order his forces to lift Maduro from Venezuela stands to no reason at all, Dogra said.
The legal authority for the strike, and whether President Trump consulted the US Congress beforehand, was not immediately clear, various international media reported.
India’s former ambassador to Venezuela, Deepak Bhojwani, in an interaction with PTI, said President Maduro “has been in the cross-hairs of the US administration”, and the US has found it very difficult to “dislodge” him.
This is because Maduro controls the country’s military and “assumed a kind of dictatorial position”, he said.
Bhojwani, who was appointed India’s envoy to the South American country in 2003, said there have been “very, very credible accusations against him (Maduro) that he has not followed democratic practices”.
He also referred to the charges of “narco-terrorism” against Maduro levelled by the Trump administration.
Talking about the US action, former diplomat Dogra said, “I don’t think the strike was sanctified either by the US Senate or the US House of Representatives or the US law. It will set a very bad precedent because some other countries, which are similarly unruly, can follow suit.” Any country or power can easily say tomorrow that if the US can do it in Venezuela, why can’t they do it with another country, or some other place, Dogra said.
“So, it’s a bad precedent that Trump has set,” he added.
Dogra also said he felt disturbed that such an event took place in an age and time when the world was looking forward to more economic and technological progress.
“But ever since Trump took charge in his second term last January, he has turned the world upside down,” he said.
Brigadier Rahul K Bhonsle (retd), another strategic affairs expert, said, “The Trump administration has taken a very dangerous and aggressive step. We have to see how it plays out.” “The tension between the US administration and the Maduro administration was brewing for some time. It was there even during (Joe) Biden’s rule. But the Trump administration has been particularly aggressive,” Bhonsle told PTI Videos in Dehradun.
This is a “very dangerous” move by the Trump administration, and Maduro’s is not a regime which is an active military opponent to the US, he said.
These are basically “drug and terror challenges”, which, the US say, are being posed by the Maduro regime that is also “ideologically opposed” to the US, Bhonsle said when asked about the possible rationale behind the strike.
“But, taking strong-arm military action against such a regime can lead to a very dangerous situation. Tomorrow, many other powers may also take this as an example and try to launch similar actions,” he cautioned. PTI KND ARI ARI ARI
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