The mayor of New York, socialist Zohran Mamdani, from the Democratic Party, classified this Saturday (3) as an “act of war” and “violation of federal and international law” the capture of dictator Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in Venezuela.
Mamdani stated that the operation announced by President Donald Trump this Saturday morning represents a “unilateral action to promote regime change in Venezuela”, in a post made on the social network X. According to the socialist mayor, “unilaterally attacking a sovereign nation is an act of war and a violation of federal and international law”.
According to Mamdani, the effects of the operation carried out during the night in Caracas could have a direct impact on New York, which is home to a large Venezuelan community.
“This blatant attempt at regime change not only affects those abroad, but also directly impacts New Yorkers, including tens of thousands of Venezuelans who call this city home,” he wrote.
The socialist mayor’s reaction adds to criticism from other Democratic leaders in the USA. The governor of the state of New York, Democrat Kathy Hochul, classified the operation as a “blatant abuse of power” and stated that President Trump acted without authorization from Congress. In the same vein, progressive Democratic Party congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez declared that the operation against Maduro “is not about drugs”, but rather about “oil and regime change”.
Maduro was charged with narco-terrorism and is expected to be tried in the Federal Court for the Southern District of New York, where prosecutors had already filed other charges in 2020.
According to the accusation, based on investigations conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Maduro had led a drug trafficking network linked to sectors of Venezuela’s high political and military command for more than two decades, using cocaine as an instrument of financing and pressure against the United States.
