Almost immediately after the United States took action in Venezuela, taking dictator Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, into custody and transporting them to New York to face narco-terrorism-related charges, the country requested an emergency United Nations Security Council meeting. That meeting is now set for 9:00 AM on Monday.
Venezuela's U.N. Ambassador Samuel Moncada wrote to the Security Council Saturday, calling the action "a colonial war aimed at destroying our republican form of government." He accused the U.S. of violating the U.N. Charter, which prohibits members from using "the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state."
U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., Mike Waltz, joined Fox News' Sunday Morning Futures on Sunday morning and defended the U.S. actions ahead of that meeting. Waltz's Sunday appearance comes less than two weeks after he delivered remarks to the Security Council on Venezuela:
Let me begin by stating and reiterating the United States does not recognize Nicolas Maduro or his cronies as the legitimate government of Venezuela. Nicolas Maduro is a fugitive from American justice and the head of the Foreign Terrorist Organization Cartel de Los Soles. In fact, Maduro and his regime stole the election, and the international community has the receipts.
President Trump has been very clear that he is going to use the full power of the United States of America, the full might of the United States, to take on and eradicate these drug cartels, which have operated with impunity in our hemisphere for far too long – and everyone knows it.
The single most serious threat to this hemisphere, our very own neighborhood and the United States, is from transnational terrorist and criminal groups.
These cartels are not like the mafia. These cartels are sophisticated, very technically capable, well-financed, and are wreaking havoc in our region.
Similarly, Waltz did not mince words when defending to host Jason Chaffetz the actions taken by the U.S. on Saturday.
.@USAmbUN: "In this case, you have a drug kingpin, an illegitimate leader, indicted in the United States, coordinating with the likes of China, Russia, Iran... pumping drugs, thugs, and weapons into the United States... at the end of the day, was the United States, was @POTUS… pic.twitter.com/NX5yofGnJQ
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) January 4, 2026
"I want to salute President Trump as commander-in-chief, and our amazing military, special operations operatives and law enforcement for the bold, decisive, and successful action that they’ve taken.
"In terms of the United Nations and the Security Council, Jason, you’re going to hear a lot of handwringing on Article 2 of the U.N. Charter, which deals with sovereignty — and I will remind everyone of Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, as we have in the past, which is a nation's inherent right to self-defense.
"So, in this case, you have a drug kingpin, an illegitimate leader, indicted in the United States coordinating with the likes of China Russia, Iran, terrorist groups like Hezbollah, pumping drugs, thugs, and weapons into the United States of America, threatening to invade its neighbors — its neighbor Guyana with one of the largest oil discoveries in the world is under threat from the Maduro regime — one of the largest refugee crises in the world, larger than even Syria, Jason. And at the end of the day, was the United States, was President Trump just going to let that status quo continue? Absolutely not. He gave diplomacy a chance. He gave Maduro a chance. But he took decisive action in the interests of the United States, and he will now, Maduro will now, be prosecuted in federal court."
READ MORE: Venezuela Promises to Be a Geopolitical Game Changer If Trump Can Convert a Triumph Into Victory
Asked by Chaffetz to elaborate on how bad the situation had gotten in terms of the drugs and criminal element coming into the U.S., Waltz drove the point home:
.@USAmbUN Mike Waltz: "Maduro was a state-backer of narcoterrorism. These operatives are some of the most vicious in the world... Enough was enough. Enough with our homeland security being threatened." pic.twitter.com/MDbQd2WLfW
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) January 4, 2026
"These groups — Tren de Aragua, Cartel de los Soles — these aren’t, like, you know, our grandfather‘s mafia. These are more like ISIS and Al-Qaeda with state backing. Maduro was a state-backer of narco-terrorism. These operatives are some of the most vicious in the world. They’re right here in the United States, killing Americans. But they had the backing of Venezuela‘s military and intelligence service, partnered with the Iranians, the Chinese and Russians, and also the Cubans.
"So, enough was enough — enough with our homeland security being threatened — and the president took that decisive action. And you're hearing, Jason, a lot of analogies to Iraq, and those mistakes of the past — this is much more like Noriega, a convicted narco-terrorist, who is now being brought to justice. Panama, which, by the way, is sitting on the U.N. Security Council right now as a rotating member, is far better for it. Our region, our safety, and security for every American will be far better after this action."
Monday's Security Council meeting will, no doubt, be rather lively, but it sounds as though Waltz is ready for it and standing firm on the principles with which he concluded his December 23rd remarks to that body:
The bottom line is, whether it is physical attacks on our buildings and infrastructure like we suffered on 9/11 or hybrid attacks like flooding our country with criminals and deadly chemicals, the United States will do everything in our considerable power to protect our hemisphere, our borders, and the American people.
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