The leader of the UK Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, has defended the United States’ military operation that led to the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, saying the action was “morally right” despite unanswered legal questions.
US President Donald Trump announced over the weekend that American forces had captured Mr Maduro and his wife. Both are currently being held in the United States and appeared before a court in New York on Monday.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Ms Badenoch said she did not fully understand the legal basis for the operation, but argued that Mr Maduro’s long rule over Venezuela had been marked by repression and authoritarianism.
“Where the legal certainty is not yet clear, morally, I do think it was the right thing to do,” she said.
Ms Badenoch linked her stance to her own background, explaining that she grew up in Nigeria under military rule.
“I grew up under a military dictatorship, so I know what it’s like to have someone like Maduro in charge,” she told the programme.
However, she acknowledged that the US action raised serious concerns about the international rules-based order. She stressed that such interventions were fundamentally different from involvement in democratic societies, pointing to Greenland as an example whose future, she said, should be decided by Denmark and the people of Greenland.
The UK government has not directly criticised the US operation, continuing instead to describe Mr Maduro as an “illegitimate president”. But several opposition parties, including the Liberal Democrats, the Green Party and the Scottish National Party, have urged the government to formally condemn the raid and declare it unlawful.