This is an official policy statement of the Military Law Task Force of the National Lawyers Guild.
The Military Law Task Force of the National Lawyers Guild condemns the U.S. military attack on Venezuela and the kidnapping of Mr. and Ms. Maduro by Delta Forces under illegal orders from President Trump. Like the recent U.S. bombing and sinking of small vessels in international or foreign waters and the deliberate killing of civilians on board, the attack violates the United States War Powers Act; Article 2(2) of the United Nations Charter; the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; the Geneva Conventions, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and the United Nations Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials as well as customary international law.
Of particular concern is the wide range of U.S. servicemembers involved in these attack, including those now in support and logistics roles. Our FAQ On Refusing Illegal Orders is still in effect, as is our recent Emergency Webinar on Illegal Orders Under Military Law (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fm26YhWRdXw&t=4429s), explains that those implementing such orders could still be liable under the UCMJ and international law.
We also call upon the United States Congress to hold hearings to investigate these war crimes, to consider articles of impeachment against President Trump and Defense Secretary Hegseth, and to enact such additional legislation as may be needed to ensure that such actions will not be repeated.
MLTF still decries the stationing of 10 naval vessels and deployment of 10,000 troops in the region, as well as the stationing of half of this force in Puerto Rico, including F-35 fighter jets, drones, and surveillance planes, as a particularly egregious provocation and misuse of Puerto Rican territory.
We further call for:
- Refusal by foreign military or civilian workers to service, fuel, load, or unload U.S. warships or warplanes. Members of foreign militaries must refuse illegal orders to collaborate in these U.S. crimes.
- Withdrawal by foreign governments of military cooperation agreements with the U.S.
- Exercise by all foreign governments of their universal jurisdiction to arrest Trump, Hegseth, or any other U.S. officials responsible for these crimes, should they set foot on foreign territory.
- Imposition of sanctions forbidding any financial or other dealings with Trump or Hegseth (exactly like the sanctions imposed on Putin et al. for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — anything less would be pure hypocrisy) and the seizure of all Trump Organization properties in foreign countries, pursuant to those sanctions.
These developments also come after over 23 years of direct U.S. involvement in coups and coup attempts in Venezuela, routine interference in Venezuelan elections, the imposition of unlawful unilateral coercive measures designed to impoverish the Venezuelan people, the arrest and detention of Venezuelan diplomats, the unlawful confiscation of Venezuelan assets held in foreign banks, and prior attempted landings by US mercenaries. Venezuela holds the world’s largest recorded oil reserves, as well as the fourth-largest natural gas reserves, and U.S. corporations have repeatedly tried to interfere with the country’s independent economic development and trade in resources.
The Military Law Task Force and the National Lawyers Guild are concerned that attacks (sometimes only alleged) on vessels in international waters have been considered by the U.S. and other countries to constitute acts of war, and have often led or been the pretext for larger, longer wars, as with the sinking of the Lusitania and the Tonkin Gulf incident, and must therefore be undertaken only with the utmost case for their legality.
