The mood at the UN has been marked by unease and quiet division following the dramatic US operation in Venezuela, with UN diplomats questioning both the legality of the action and the relevance of the multilateral system in restraining great-power force.
In the corridors of the UN's New York headquarters, envoys speak of a sense of paralysis after US forces seized the Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro in Caracas and transferred him to New York to face drug trafficking charges.
US special forces seized Mr Maduro in Caracas at the weekend, marking the most dramatic US intervention in Latin America since the 1989 invasion of Panama. The operation has triggered sharp debate among diplomats and legal experts over sovereignty, jurisdiction and the limits of US power abroad.
Multiple explosions heard in Venezuela’s capital Caracas 00:43
An emergency Security Council meeting was requested by Venezuela and formally conveyed to the council by Colombia, whose UN ambassador, Leonor Zalabata Torres, rejected “any unilateral military action” that could worsen the crisis or endanger civilians.
Ms Zalabata Torres said the capture of Mr Maduro risked allowing “the law and the interests of the strongest” to prevail over multilateralism, adding that democracy cannot be defended through violence or coercion.
“There is no and can be no justification for the crime cynically perpetrated by the United States in Caracas,” Mr Nebenzya told the council, describing the
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