This afternoon (23 December), the Security Council will hold an open briefing under the “Threats to international peace and security” agenda item. Venezuela requested an urgent Council meeting in a 17 December letter, citing escalating tensions resulting from “US aggression” against the country (S/2025/825). China and Russia supported the meeting request. Assistant Secretary-General for the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific in the Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations (DPPA-DPO) Mohamed Khaled Khiari is expected to brief. Venezuela and several regional countries are expected to participate in the meeting under rule 37 of the Council’s provisional rules of procedure.
Council members have been closely following the heightened tensions between the US and Venezuela since mid-August. The US has increased its military presence in the southern Caribbean, off the coast of Venezuela, citing the need to curtail the flow of drugs into its territory. As part of this campaign, the US has been attacking boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean that Washington alleges are smuggling drugs. Media reports indicate that, between 2 September and 19 December, the US had carried out 28 strikes against such boats, which resulted in the deaths of at least 104 people. (These figures are drawn from public statements of US officials and have not been independently confirmed by media outlets or the UN.)
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk has said that the US strikes on boats that are allegedly linked to drug trafficking violate international human rights law. He stressed that such attacks are unacceptable and called on the US to halt them and to “take all measures necessary to prevent the extrajudicial killing of people aboard these boats, whatever the criminal conduct alleged against them”.
For its part, Washington has claimed that its attacks are lawful, with a confidential note sent by the government to the US Congress in early October reportedly arguing that the US is engaged in “armed conflict” with drug cartels, which the administration of US President Donald Trump has labelled as terrorist organisations. Many legal experts have rejected this argument, including by challenging whether the trafficking of illegal substances can be characterised as an imminent armed attack.
The Security Council first met to discuss the recent escalation of tensions between the US and Venezuela in an open briefing on 10 October. Venezuela requested the meeting in a 9 October letter, and Russia supported the meeting request. In the letter, Venezuela rejected the justifications presented by the US for its actions, alleging that Washington’s true intention is to advance a policy of “regime change” in order to “take control of the vast natural resources located in Venezuelan territory”. It also argued that the US’ military mobilisation and inflammatory rhetoric suggest that an armed attack by the US against Venezuela “may occur in the very short term”.
Miroslav Jenča, who then served as Assistant Secretary-General for Europe, Central Asia and the Americas in DPPA-DPO, briefed at the 10 October meeting. He echoed statements made by Secretary-General António Guterres on the matter, urging both sides to de-escalate tensions, exercise restraint, and solve their differences through peaceful means. While recognising the harmful effects of violence driven by transnational organised crime, which impact production and destination countries alike, Jenča emphasised that all efforts to counter such crime need to be conducted in accordance with international law, including the UN Charter. Khiari may reiterate such messages at today’s meeting.
Khiari’s briefing is also expected to cover developments since the Council’s 10 October meeting. On 29 November, Trump ordered the closure of Venezuelan airspace “in its entirety”. Venezuela denounced the move as a “hostile, unilateral, and arbitrary act” that violates the UN Charter.
In a 16 December post on social media, Trump said that “Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest armada ever assembled in the History of South America”, warning that the armada will “get bigger” unless Venezuela returns to the US “all of the oil, land, and other assets that they previously stole from us”. In that post, Trump said that he is designating the Venezuelan government as a foreign terrorist organisation (FTO) and ordered a “total and complete blockade” of all oil tankers sanctioned by the US going into, and out of, Venezuela. Between 10 and 22 December, the US Coast Guard intercepted two vessels allegedly carrying sanctioned Venezuelan oil and attempted to intercept a third oil tanker headed to Venezuela, which refused to be boarded and fled.
In its 17 December letter requesting today’s meeting, Venezuela rejected any US claims to Venezuelan oil reserves and argued that the threats levelled by Washington violate Article 2(4) of the UN Charter, which prohibits the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state. It further called on the Security Council to address the US’ ongoing aggression against Venezuela.
On 17 December, Guterres received a phone call from Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro Moros. According to a readout of the call, Guterres reaffirmed the UN’s position on the need for member states to “respect international law, particularly the United Nations Charter, exert restraint and de-escalate tensions to preserve regional stability”. Khiari may echo these points at today’s meeting.
Council dynamics that were on display at the 10 October meeting are also likely to colour the proceedings at today’s meeting. The US is expected to repeat its allegations against Venezuela, claiming that Maduro is connected to “narco-terrorist” cartels and that his actions pose a threat to the security of the US and the region. China and Russia are likely to condemn the US’ actions and accuse it of heightening tensions and threatening regional and international peace and security. They may also call for restraint and the peaceful settlement of the crisis, express solidarity with Venezuela, and note that Caracas has expressed its openness to dialogue.
At the 10 October meeting, most other Council members did not explicitly mention the US, instead making general statements on the need to de-escalate the situation in the Caribbean region through dialogue and to uphold international law and the principles of the UN Charter. They also noted that, in 2014, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) declared the region a zone of peace and highlighted the need to maintain calm in the area. These members emphasised the importance of combatting transnational organised crime and illicit drug trafficking, while stressing that this should be done through multilateral law enforcement and judicial cooperation and in compliance with international law and relevant international frameworks such as the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
Many Council members are expected to convey similar messages at today’s meeting. Some may underscore the importance of the peaceful settlement of disputes, while mentioning the role that the UN and relevant regional organisations or states can play in facilitating dialogue.
As they did at the 10 October meeting, several members may also address the humanitarian and human rights situation in Venezuela. Some members may note that they do not recognise Maduro as the winner of the 28 July 2024 presidential election held in the country. (For background, see our 5 September 2024 What’s in Blue story.)
There may also be references to the findings presented by Türk during his 16 December oral update to the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) on the situation in Venezuela. Türk described an ongoing crackdown on civic space and the suppression of dissent and accountability, including through threats, harassment, and reprisals against journalists, human rights defenders, and opposition figures. He also expressed concern about the human rights impacts of the intensifying US military pressure on Venezuela, stressing that “[h]istory has shown, time and again, that when confrontation escalates, it is often ordinary people who are caught in the crossfire”.
In late October, Russia circulated a draft presidential statement addressing the escalation in the Caribbean region. The draft text apparently did not explicitly mention Venezuela or the US and contained general messages that were conveyed by most Council members at the 10 October Council meeting, including on the need for states to exercise maximum restraint and resort to dialogue, diplomacy, and multilateral mechanisms. It seems that the draft text also underscored the inadmissibility of the use of the Caribbean Sea for illicit trafficking in narcotic drugs. Russia convened one round of negotiations on the text and revised the draft once. It seems that while many members could agree with the messages contained in the text, the US opposed having a product on the issue, leading Russia to withdraw the draft from consideration.
