My briefing to the UN Security Council on US Aggression Against Venezuela

My briefing to the UN Security Council on US aggression against Venezuela
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by Jeffrey Sachs

[This article posted on 1/6/2026 is available on the Internet, https://overton-magazin.de/hintergrund/politik/meine-unterrichtung-des-un-sicherheitsrats-bezueglich-der-aggression-der-usa-gegen-venezuela/.]

The question the Council must address is whether a member state has the right—through force, coercion, or economic strangulation—to decide the political future of Venezuela or to exercise control over its affairs.

Editor's note: The following remarks were delivered by Jeffrey D. Sachs, president of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network and director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, during an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Monday, January 5, 2026, in New York City.

Mr. President, distinguished members of the Security Council,

The question before the Council today is not the nature of Venezuela's government.

The question is whether a Member State—through force, coercion, or economic strangulation—has the right to decide Venezuela's political future or exercise control over its affairs.

This question directly concerns Article 2, paragraph 4, of the Charter of the United Nations, which prohibits the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state.

The Council must decide whether to uphold or abandon this prohibition.

Abandoning this prohibition would have serious consequences.

### Background and context

Since 1947, US foreign policy has repeatedly used force, covert action, and political manipulation to bring about regime change in other countries. This is a carefully documented historical fact. In her book Covert Regime Change (2018), political scientist Lindsey O'Rourke documents 70 attempted US regime change operations between 1947 and 1989 alone.

These practices did not end with the Cold War. Since 1989, the most significant US regime change operations carried out without Security Council approval include: Iraq (2003), Libya (2011), Syria (since 2011), Honduras (2009), Ukraine (2014), and Venezuela (since 2002).

The methods used are well established and well documented. They include open warfare, covert intelligence operations, incitement of unrest, support for armed groups, manipulation of mass and social media, bribery of military and civilian officials, targeted assassinations, false flag operations, and economic warfare aimed at crippling civilian life.

These actions are illegal under the UN Charter and typically result in prolonged violence, deadly conflict, political instability, and great suffering for the civilian population.

### The case of Venezuela

The United States' recent record with regard to Venezuela is clear.

In April 2002, the United States knew about and approved of an attempted coup against the Venezuelan government.

In the 2010s, the United States funded civil society groups that actively participated in anti-government protests, particularly in 2014. When the government cracked down on the protests, the US imposed a series of sanctions. In 2015, President Barack Obama declared Venezuela an “unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.”

In 2017, during a dinner with Latin American heads of state and government on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, President Trump openly discussed the option of a US invasion of Venezuela to overthrow the government.

From 2017 to 2020, the US imposed comprehensive sanctions on the state oil company. Oil production fell by 75 percent from 2016 to 2020, and real GDP per capita (PPP) declined by 62 percent.

The UN General Assembly has repeatedly voted overwhelmingly against such unilateral coercive measures. Under international law, only the Security Council has the authority to impose such sanctions.

On January 23, 2019, the United States unilaterally recognized Juan Guaidó as Venezuela's “interim president” and, on January 28, 2019, froze approximately $7 billion in Venezuelan state assets abroad and transferred control of certain assets to Guaidó.

These measures are part of more than two decades of U.S. efforts to bring about regime change.

### Recent global escalation by the United States

Over the past year, the United States has carried out bombing raids in seven countries, none of which were authorized by the Security Council and none of which were carried out in legitimate self-defense under the Charter. Targeted countries include Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, and now Venezuela.

Last month, President Trump issued direct threats against at least six UN member states, including Colombia, Denmark, Iran, Mexico, Nigeria, and, of course, Venezuela. These threats are summarized in Annex I to this statement.

### What is at stake today

The members of the Council are not being asked to pass judgment on Nicolás Maduro.

They are not being asked to judge whether the recent attack by the United States and the ongoing naval blockade of Venezuela will lead to freedom or subjugation.

The members of the Council are called upon to defend international law and, in particular, the Charter of the United Nations.

The realist school of international relations, most brilliantly articulated by John Mearsheimer, aptly describes the state of international anarchy as “the tragedy of great power politics.” Realism is therefore a description of geopolitics, not a solution for peace. His own conclusion is that international anarchy leads to tragedy.

After World War I, the League of Nations was founded to end tragedy through the application of international law. But in the 1930s, the world's leading nations failed to defend international law, leading to another world war.

Out of this catastrophe emerged the United Nations, humanity's second great effort to place international law above anarchy. In the words of the Charter, the UN was founded “to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind.”

Given that we are in the atomic age, failure must not be repeated. Humanity would perish. There would be no third chance.

### Measures required of the Security Council

In order to fulfill its obligations under the Charter, the Security Council should immediately adopt the following measures:

1. The United States must immediately cease and desist from all explicit and implicit threats or use of force against Venezuela.
2. The United States must end its naval blockade and all related military coercive measures carried out without the authorization of the Security Council.
3. The United States must immediately withdraw its forces from Venezuela and the vicinity of Venezuela, including all intelligence, maritime, airborne, and other assets stationed on the ground that are used for coercive measures.
4. Venezuela adheres to the Charter of the United Nations and the human rights protected in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
5. The Secretary-General shall immediately appoint a Special Representative tasked with engaging with relevant Venezuelan and international actors and submitting recommendations to the Security Council within fourteen days, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, and the Security Council shall continue to address this matter urgently.
6. All Member States shall refrain from unilateral threats, coercive measures, or armed action outside the authority of the Security Council, in strict accordance with the Charter.

### In conclusion

Mr. President, distinguished members

The peace and survival of humanity depend on whether the United Nations Charter remains a living instrument of international law or sinks into irrelevance.

That is the decision facing this Council today.

Thank you.

This speech first appeared in English at Common Dreams.

Jeffrey Sachs, born in 1954 in Detroit, Michigan, USA, is a renowned development economist and director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University. He became known to the general public as director of the UN Millennium Project on global poverty reduction. He has advised governments around the world, including in Latin America and post-communist Poland and Russia, where he helped implement market economy reforms. Sachs is president of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, co-chair of the Council of Engineers for the Energy Transition, a member of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences at the Vatican, and commissioner of the UN Broadband Commission for Development.