Overview
- U.S. forces acting under President Trump removed Nicolás Maduro from Caracas and transported him to New York to face terrorism and narcotics charges.
- Keir Starmer labeled Maduro an illegitimate president and affirmed the importance of global rules but said it is for the U.S. to justify its actions.
- Labour figures including Diane Abbott and Emily Thornberry, as well as the Liberal Democrats’ Ed Davey, the Greens’ Zack Polanski and Reform UK’s Nigel Farage, condemned the operation as unlawful.
- After Trump said “We do need Greenland,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told him to stop the threats, and Starmer said Greenland’s future is for Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark to decide.
- The fallout is straining the UK–U.S. relationship and pulling focus from Starmer’s domestic agenda, with a Paris meeting of a European coalition backing Ukraine expected to wrestle with the diplomatic consequences.