Former diplomat Shashi Tharoor has given his frank assessment of the US action against Venezuela and its President Nicolas Maduro. It is all about “might is right”, the Congress MP who’s also the chairman of the parliamentary committee on foreign affairs said in a post on X.

After months of threats and pressure tactics, the United States on Saturday bombed Venezuela and toppled the left-wing leader Maduro. He was taken to face trial in New York.

“International law and the UN Charter have for some years now been honoured in the breach. The Law of the Jungle prevails today. ‘Might is Right’ is the new creed,” Tharoor said in response to a post by author Kapil Komireddi.

The author had pointed at the hypocrisy involved in US President Donald Trump’s move in Venezuela. 

The US operation brought the curtain down on 12 years of Maduro’s rule, who had a $50 million US bounty on his head. Trump posted a picture on Truth Social of the Venezuelan leader handcuffed and blindfolded aboard a US naval ship in the Caribbean.

From there he and his wife Cilia Flores were flown to New York to face drugs and weapons charges. Trump said he followed the operation to capture Maduro live at his Mar-a-Lago estate “like I was watching a television show.”

Venezuela’s opposition leader, Nobel peace laureate Maria Corina Machado, took to social media to proclaim her country’s “hour of freedom has arrived.” Machado, seen as a hero by many Venezuelans for her dogged resistance to Maduro, called for the opposition’s candidate in the 2024 election to “immediately” assume the presidency.

Trump brushed aside any expectations Machado herself would emerge as leader, claiming she did not have “support or respect” in Venezuela.