Winston Peters. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has made the government's first statement following the US military action against Venezuela, saying New Zealand is "concerned".
On Saturday, the US attacked the Venezuelan capital Caracas and captured the South American nation's president and his wife, citing alleged drug offences.
US President Donald Trump said in the meantime, the US would "run" the country, which has some of the world's largest oil reserves.
"New Zealand is concerned by and actively monitoring developments in Venezuela and expects all parties to act in accordance with international law," Peters said in a post on X (formerly Twitter), using the official Minister of Foreign Affairs account.
New Zealand is concerned by and actively monitoring developments in Venezuela and expects all parties to act in accordance with international law. New Zealand stands with the Venezuelan people in their pursuit of a fair, democratic and prosperous future.
— Winston Peters (@NewZealandMFA) January 3, 2026
We continue to advise…
"New Zealand stands with the Venezuelan people in their pursuit of a fair, democratic and prosperous future.
"We continue to advise that New Zealanders do not travel to Venezuela. New Zealanders requiring urgent consular assistance can contact the 24/7consular emergency line on +64 99 20 20 20."
The military action comes after months of accusations from the Trump administration that Venezuela has been shipping narcotics into the US, but Trump has made no secret of his desire to access Venezuela's natural reserves.
"We're going to have our very large United States oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure," he said. "We'll be selling large amounts of oil."
The United Nations is set to have an emergency meeting on Monday to discuss the action, which has recieved both praise and condemnation from world leaders.
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson called on Prime Minister Christopher Luxon to "show leadership and moral courage and condemn the US attacking Venezuela".
"This is a unilateral attack that goes against any enduring pathway to international peace through justice," she wrote on social media. "It is pure American imperialism over a region that has some of the world's largest oil reserves. This is a display of illegal might that has never had the interests of the Venezuelan people at its core."
She said Luxon's "silence in the face of this blatant US breach of international law goes against NZ maintaining our cherished independent foreign policy and betrays the values of our nation".
"The PM needs to show an understanding of how this action risks the already fragile stability and sustainable pathways to justice for the world and impacted regions. He must condemn this invasion now," Davidson wrote.
Contacted for a response, the prime minister's office referred RNZ to Peters' post on X.
Invasion unlawful - expert
International law expert Professor Alexander Gillespie of the University of Waikato said while it was "very good that Peters has called upon all countries to 'act in accordance with international law'", he was curious to know whether Peters believed the US action was lawful or not, or if Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro had diplomatic immunity.
In theory, Gillespie said it appeared the US military action was unlawful.
Professor Alexander Gillespie of the University of Waikato. Photo: Alexander Gillespie
"You can only attack another country in times of self-defence and that situation must be urgent, proportionate in action, and no alternative to the use of force," he told RNZ via email.
"Trump is not wrong to be concerned about the problem of illegal drugs and transnational criminal/terrorist groups, but the pretext of illegal drugs in this area is fanciful; where the 'war on drugs' has turned into something completely different. To say it is self-defence stretches the doctrine way beyond what it has previously been understood as."
But it was unlikely Trump would face any legal retaliation, as the US has a veto on the UN Security Council and would "just laugh" at the prospect of being taken to the International Court of Justice.
Gillespie said there was a risk the US arrest of another country's president would give others such as Russia, China and Iran "a green light to intervene in countries they disapprove of unilaterally - without going through the UN".
"It will be a small step for countries like China to take Taiwan on this precedent; or Russia to push even harder into Ukraine."
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