The United Nations has voiced deep concern over the dramatic US intervention in Venezuela, warning that it clearly "undermined a fundamental principle of international law".
"States must not threaten or use force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state," Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the UN rights office, told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday.
Her comments came after Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores were abducted by US commandos in the early hours of Saturday amid air strikes on the Venezuelan capital backed by warplanes and a heavy naval deployment.
Shamdasani dismissed the US justifications of the Venezuelan government's "longstanding and appalling human rights violations" for the raid.
"Accountability for human rights violations cannot be achieved by unilateral military intervention in violation of international law," she insisted.
She highlighted that the UN rights office had for a decade consistently reported on "the continued deterioration of the situation in Venezuela".
"We fear that the current instability and further militarisation in the country resulting from the US intervention will only make the situation worse."
