U.S. capture of Maduro triggers regional diplomatic crisis in CELAC

• The capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro by U.S. military forces unleashed a serious diplomatic crisis in the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC).
• What was intended to be an emergency session called by Colombia and Brazil to condemn foreign intervention instead exposed a sharply divided region, unable to reach a unified position on Washington’s military operation.
• At the centre of the split, the Dominican Republic aligned with a bloc of ten countries, led by Argentina, that blocked consensus on rejecting the U.S. action. The bloc – comprising Argentina, the Dominican Republic, Paraguay, Peru, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Panama, and Trinidad and Tobago – reportedly plans a joint statement that would validate Maduro’s arrest, citing allegations of transnational narcoterrorism, according to diplomatic sources and reports from Infobae.
• This position marks a turning point for Dominican foreign policy, signalling a departure from its traditionally cautious stance in multilateral forums. On the opposing side, a progressive bloc including Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Honduras, Cuba, and Nicaragua warned that the operation sets a dangerous precedent by violating national sovereignty.
• The divide even extends within countries, such as Chile, where outgoing President Gabriel Boric condemned the action while president-elect José Antonio Kast praised it. With Venezuela politically destabilised and CELAC unable to issue a joint response, the organisation’s silence has become a powerful symbol of Latin America’s growing fragmentation.

(Source: Dominican Today)