Abduction of Venezuela’s President Rekindles Sovereignty Concerns

The abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores on January 3, 2026, has sparked international alarm, reviving long-standing concerns about the fragility of Global South sovereignty within an unequal international order.

Venezuelan officials have described the incident as an extraterritorial seizure involving foreign actors, prompting swift diplomatic responses. South Africa raised the matter at the United Nations Security Council, arguing that the abduction represents a serious violation of sovereign equality. Ghana demanded the immediate release of Maduro and Flores, while the African Union issued a statement expressing its “grave concern.” The United Nations has also acknowledged the growing unease and called for restraint and respect for international law.

For many states and commentators, the episode follows a familiar historical pattern rather than constituting an unprecedented breach. Comparisons have been drawn to the U.S. capture of Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega - also on January 3, in 1990 - and his transfer to the United States. For Africans, the incident recalls France’s kidnapping of Haitian revolutionary leader Toussaint Louverture and his family on June 7, 1802, after he led a successful struggle to end slavery. In each case, leaders of non-European states were forcibly removed despite claims to sovereignty and self-determination.

Such episodes underscore how sovereignty in the Global South is often treated as conditional while the Global North’s remains sacrosanct. But as Emperor Haile Selassie warned in his 1963 address to the United Nations, global peace cannot endure where some governments are regarded as superior to others. Current indications of US interest in annexing Greenland, however, return us to His Majesty's caution that no one is immune.

Demonstrations supporting the abduction and those demanding Maduro’s release have been reported in Venezuela and abroad, as diplomatic negotiations continue behind closed doors. Whatever the immediate outcome, the January 3 abduction has reopened unresolved questions about the limits of international law and the uneven protection it affords different states - reminding many in the Global South that struggles over sovereignty remain far from settled.