Project Stability and Accountability for Malaysia (Projek SAMA) condemns in the strongest and most unequivocal terms the invasion of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the kidnapping of its President Nicolas Maduro by the United States of America.
President Trump claims that he has put Venezuela under America’s control and that the cost of the U.S. occupation would be reimbursed from the “money coming out of the ground” and as part of the takeover, major U.S. oil companies would move into Venezuela which has the world’s largest oil reserves.
This is a blatant admission that the American invasion of Venezuela is nothing about narco-terrorism or democracy, but an imperialistic invasion to colonise Venezuela for its petroleum. It is no different from Russia’s imperialist invasion to colonise Ukraine in the pretext of overthrowing an imaginary NeoNazi regime in Kiev.
From Ukraine to Venezuela, imperialistic invasions by major powers indicates a dangerous acceleration in the collapse of the post-Second World War international order — an order built precisely to prevent powerful states from imposing their will through force.
Such imperialistic invasions by Russia and now America may encourage other major powers, China included, to do the same and normalise the use of military force in sovereignty disputes, including those in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea over which China stakes a sweeping Nine-Dash Line claim.
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And what moral authority does America have to order Thailand and Cambodian to stop their border conflict? This is how norms collapse: not all at once, but through selective violations left unanswered, breeding cynicism and nihilism.
The United Nations and the international community must condemn these actions without double standards, reaffirm the prohibition on the use of force, and press urgently for a lawful, peaceful, and inclusive resolution. Trump and Putin must not be allowed to establish a new normal that military might overrides law and diplomacy, leaving the security of smaller nations contingent, fragile, and ultimately illusory.
The Venezuelan people deserve peace, dignity, and the right to determine their own future. The world deserves an international order governed by law, restraint, and accountability.
While many Global South nations including Malaysia have spoken up, the Rest of the West nations too have to condemn America’s imperialism, not just denying involvement in the shameful colonialist invasion.
The Rest of the West are not safe from Trump’s imperialism. Greenland which is an autonomous region of Denmark, of both the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) might be next target of his invasion or regime change. Emboldened by Trump, Russia may eye its western border closer to Berlin.
Trump has reversed time by two centuries from 2026 to 1823 when the then US President James Monroe laid out the Monroe Doctrine which claimed the whole of Western Hemisphere as America’s sphere of influence.
Trump has reverted US to the Gunboat Diplomacy of President Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909) and abandoned America’s support for self-determination and decolonisation since President Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921).
For nearly eight decades, the prohibition against the use of force has been the cornerstone of international stability. Article 2(4) of the United Nations Charter is explicit: states are forbidden from using force against the territorial integrity or political independence of another state, except in narrowly defined circumstances of self-defence under Article 51 or with explicit UN Security Council authorisation. The actions taken against Venezuela do not satisfy these conditions.
By acting outside these legal boundaries, the United States has inflicted severe damage on the credibility of international law itself. More dangerously, it has stripped away the moral authority required to uphold that law elsewhere. When the world’s most powerful state disregards the rules it claims to defend, those rules cease to function as restraints and instead become instruments of convenience.
Imperialist invasions of Ukraine and Venezuela, alongside the continuous occupation of Palestine and the 12-day war against Iran, raise grave concerns under international humanitarian law, including obligations under the Geneva Conventions to protect civilian populations and prohibit collective punishment. They violate the long-standing principle of non-intervention, a principle essential to the survival and security of smaller and developing states. For countries such as Malaysia, this erosion is not abstract — it strikes at the very foundations of our own national security.
Projek SAMA stresses that condemning unlawful foreign aggression does not equate to defending the record of the Venezuelan government. Venezuela has suffered years of economic collapse, corruption, institutional decay, and the systematic suppression of democratic freedoms. Its people have endured poverty, displacement, and the denial of political choice.
No matter how flawed or authoritarian President Maduro’s rule may be as charged by his detractors, democracy cannot be imposed by foreign invasion, which is often a pretext for colonialist exploitation. The Venezuelan people do not need to be “rescued” by bombs.
History is unequivocal: regime change imposed through force produces neither democracy nor stability. Any form of prolonged military occupation, proxy control, or externally imposed political settlement — whether by the United States or any other power — is unsustainable and only invites backlash to the power. Such interventions deepen suffering, entrench dependency, and sow the seeds of long-term instability.
Projek SAMA therefore calls for immediate de-escalation and an unequivocal return to diplomacy and multilateral engagement. The only legitimate path forward is a credible transition to free and fair elections, conducted under robust international supervision and inclusive of all political forces, including parties associated with the current Maduro administration. Democracy cannot be built on exclusion, nor imposed at gunpoint.
The Venezuelan people must be allowed to choose their own leaders freely and without coercion. Self-determination is a right, not a privilege granted by external powers.
Following such elections, a legitimately constituted Venezuelan government must pursue an independent and transparent process to investigate past human rights abuses and corruption. Accountability, truth, and justice are essential for national recovery — not as acts of revenge, but as foundations for genuine reconciliation and institutional renewal.
Projek SAMA welcomes the call by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim for the immediate release of President and Mrs Maduro. The Government of Malaysia must speak out clearly and publicly against this violation of international law. Silence, hedging, or strategic ambiguity only accelerates the breakdown of the norms that protect small and medium-sized states. A world governed by power rather than law and civility can only be more volatile, more unjust, and more dangerous.
Projek SAMA stands firmly for human rights, democracy, and international law — without exception, without fear, and without hypocrisy.
-Projek SAMA
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