THE Episcopal Church in the United States has called on the US Congress to investigate the Trump administration’s night-time military raid on the capital of Venezuela and the capture of the country’s President.
In a statement issued after the events in the early hours of Saturday morning, the Church called for prayers for Venezuela, saying that it feared for the population’s well-being amid the instability caused by the Caracas raid and reiterating its General Conventions resolutions on the use of armed force.
President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were captured and arrested in Operation Lasting Resolve, which took US troops two hours and 20 minutes. About 40 soldiers and civilians in Caracas were killed; many of them are understood to be Cuban military who were guarding President Maduro.
The couple were flown to the US and indicted on drugs and weapons charges. They were due to appear in court on Monday.
The raid and deposition of President Maduro, who succeeded Hugo Chávez in 2013, came after months of US pressure, including attacks on boats alleged to be trafficking drugs.
The Episcopal Church posted a statement on its website in response to the events, which said: “Episcopalians in Venezuela carry out vital ministries in increasingly challenging conditions, and we fear for their well-being and their church community if these military interventions, and any form of U.S. occupation, lead to more instability and violence.
“The Episcopal Church’s General Convention has a long-standing policy that ‘condemn[s] in any nation the first use of armed force in the form of a preventive or pre-emptive strike that is aimed at disrupting a non-imminent, uncertain military threat.’ Even as we recognize that intervention in sovereign states can sometimes be necessary to prevent atrocities, we discourage ‘the abuse of this norm to rationalize military actions in sovereign states for political ends.’
“We urge Congress to call for an investigation and accountability for this most recent unauthorized operation, as well as the related military actions carried out in recent months.”
In the hours after the raid, President Trump suggested that the US would run Venezuela, and that US oil firms would take over its oil industry. The Vice-President, Delcy Rodriguez, an ally of Maduro, has been appointed Acting President, and has offered to “collaborate” with the Trump administration.
On Sunday, she posted a message on social media saying that she hoped to build “respectful relations”.
Pope Leo, on Sunday, called for Venezuelan sovereignty to be protected: “The good of the beloved Venezuelan people must prevail over every other consideration, and lead us to overcome violence and to undertake paths of justice and peace, safeguarding the country’s sovereignty, ensuring the rule of law enshrined in the Constitution, respecting the human and civil rights of each person and of all, and working to build together a serene future of collaboration, stability, and concord, with special attention to the poorest who suffer because of the difficult economic situation.”
Roman Catholic bishops in Venezuela called for a rejection of violence, and for a decision to “be made always for the good of our people”.
Many Venezuelan expats in the US greeted the news of President Maduro’s removal with “joy and hope”, but also caution, the Catholic news agency Crux reported. It described exiles gathering on the streets of places such as Doral, in Florida — where 40 per cent of the residents are Venezuelan exiles — waving flags and singing the Venezuelan national anthem.
About 80 per cent of the Venezuelan population are Christian: 72 per cent are Roman Catholic, and about eight per cent are Protestant, according to latest data from 2024.
The UN Secretary General, António Guterres, said that he was “deeply alarmed” by the events in Caracas. In a statement, he said that the raid and capture set a “dangerous precedent”.
The UN Security Council was due to meet on Monday for an emergency session to discuss the events.
The UK Government responded to the events with caution. The Prime Minister repeated his support for international law, while saying: “The UK has long supported a transition of power in Venezuela. We regarded Maduro as an illegitimate President and we shed no tears about the end of his regime.”
The evangelist Franklin Graham, a Trump supporter, welcomed the removal of the Venezuelan President. Writing on X, he said: “I’m sure the people of Venezuela are breathing a huge sigh of relief that this evil dictator, Nicolás Maduro, is gone.”
He asked people to “pray for President Trump and his team to have wisdom from God as they assess what the next steps need to be.”
The Christian charity World Vision said that there were more than seven million refugees from Venezuela across Latin America. Nearly eight million people had left the country since 2018, owing to violence, inflation, and shortages of food and medicines. Five million people inside the country needed humanitarian assistance to survive.
João Diniz, from World Vision Latin America and the Caribbean, said: “Millions of Venezuelans dream of returning home, yet they face severe challenges in accessing basic services such as health, education, nutrition, and child protection.”
