NEW YORK, United States (CMC) — Two Caribbean-born community activists in New York have strongly denounced the United States (US) military strikes in Venezuela and the capture of the country’s President Nicolás Maduro and subsequent extradition to New York to face charges of narco-trafficking.

Maduro and his wife are expected to be arraigned in a US federal court in Manhattan on Monday.

Grenadian Martin Felix and Jamaican Delroy Wright told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) that Trump’s actions do not bode well for the region.

“The long-standing Caribbean people’s aspiration to remain a zone of peace is now under threat from the Trump doctrine, which places oil profits above people and normalises confrontation in the region,” Felix said.

“US actions toward Venezuela signal a dangerous new phase, reinforced by the so-called Trump Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, defined by bullying, unilateralism, overt regime-change, and economic coercion,” he added.

He noted that this approach undermines both international stability and the rule of law, disregarding the constitutional requirement that only Congress may authorise war.

“Such practices erode legal norms and directly challenge the Caribbean’s right to peace, sovereignty and non-militarisation. We need a strong Caricom (Caribbean Community) now more than ever, if ever we are to survive this existential threat to the region. Now more than ever, we need to revive the unifying principles enshrined in the Treaty of Chaguaramas,” Felix added.

Wright lamented that if the proposed Caribbean Federation in the late 1960s had materialised, it would have been more difficult for Trump to intervene militarily in the region.

“Now, here we are, that Trump believes it’s ok for him to do as he pleases in the Caribbean, aided and abetted by a few self-serving heads of state…to invade Venezuela and extract its president. If we had a federation, it would not be so easy for Trump or any foreign leaders to do so. Our country would not only be a sovereign nation; it would be a sovereign federation—a collective. And so, you can trace this back to the failed federation,” he said.

“It created a weak regional economy that failed to attract future leaders or the kind of think tank to put policies in place to build up a barrier against infiltration or invasion,” he added.

Wright said that Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad- Bissessar “not only empowered Trump to invade Venezuela, but she also made every Caribbean nation susceptible to be invaded”.

“Kamla should be ashamed!” he declared.

On Saturday, Caribbean-American Democratic Congresswoman, Yvette Clarke, strongly condemned what she described as Trump’s “unauthorised” military strikes in Venezuela and the US military’s capture of Maduro.

Clarke, the daughter of Jamaican immigrants, who represents the 9th Congressional District in Brooklyn, told CMC that Trump acted without congressional authorisation in conducting military strikes in Venezuela, and forcefully and unilaterally causing “regime change by seizing President Nicolás Maduro”.

“In a brazen affront to the rule of law and the US Constitution and without any rational consideration of the grave consequences that will inevitably follow, in the dead of night, Donald Trump has plunged the United States into yet another dangerous foreign entanglement by unleashing direct military strikes upon Venezuela’s capital and capturing President Nicolás Maduro and his wife,” said Clarke, who also chairs the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC).

In a separate statement, the CBC said that Trump’s decision to bypass Congress and conduct a military operation to capture Maduro and bring him to the United States to stand trial is “a grave and illegal abuse of power”.

“It is also indefensible that President Trump would choose to funnel taxpayer dollars into unauthorised military action in Venezuela for the expressed interest of oil, rather than addressing the urgent needs of millions of Americans struggling with rising health care costs,” the CBC said.

It said that while Maduro is, in fact, an illegitimate leader, the deployment of US military power to impose political change in a sovereign nation, without the consent of Congress or a clear and defined plan of action, “threatens to draw the United States into an indefinite conflict in Venezuela.

“We cannot understate the severity of the consequences that could follow from such reckless actions, which threaten regional stability and weaken our standing on the world stage,” it said, adding that Trump’s stated intention to assume control over Venezuela is “wholly unacceptable”.

The CBC called on the Trump administration “without hesitation, to provide comprehensive briefings to the Gang of Eight, as well as to all members of the House and Senate”.

The “Gang of Eight” (G8) in the US Congress refers to a small, bipartisan group of top-ranking leaders and intelligence committee chairs who obtain sensitive classified briefings from the president and his administration, ensuring important national security information is shared while restricting access to only essential legislators.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, also of New York, denounced Trump’s announced plan to run Venezuela as “unacceptable”.

“It is critical that the Trump administration provide an immediate ‘Gang of Eight’ briefing, followed by briefings for all members of the House and Senate early next week,” they urged in a joint statement.

Jeffries told CMC that while “Maduro is a criminal and authoritarian dictator who has oppressed the people of Venezuela for years, Donald Trump has the constitutional responsibility to follow the law and protect democratic norms in the United States”.

“That is what putting America First requires. The Trump administration has not sought congressional authorisation for the use of military force and has failed to properly notify Congress in advance of the operation in Venezuela.

“The promotion of security and stability in a region requires more than just military force as we painfully discovered in Iraq and Afghanistan,” added Jeffries.

Pursuant to the US Constitution, Jeffries said the framers gave Congress “the sole power to declare war as the branch of government closest to the American people.

“The House and Senate must be briefed immediately, and compelling evidence to explain and justify this unauthorised use of military force should be presented forthwith,” Jeffries demanded.

In defending the Trump administration for not notifying the “G8” before military strikes in Venezuela and the capture of Maduro, Republican Senator Tom Cotton, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said, “Congress isn’t notified when the FBI is going to arrest a drug trafficker or cyber-criminal here in the United States, nor should Congress be notified when the executive branch is executing arrests on indicted persons.”

“Congress doesn’t need to be notified every time the executive branch is making an arrest,” he said.