Latin American, European leaders react to Maduro's capture by the U.S.

Colombia prepares to receive refugees from Venezuela

President Gustavo Petro of Colombia, one of Trump’s fiercest critics, said the Colombian government convened a national security meeting before dawn Saturday and sent security forces to the border in preparation for a potential “massive influx of refugees” from neighboring Venezuela.

He said he would also call on the U.N. Security Council to consider “the aggression against the sovereignty of Venezuela and of Latin America.”

“Without sovereignty, there is no nation,” Petro wrote on social media.

German leader calls for stability in Venezuela

Chancellor Friedrich Merz said in a statement Saturday that Nicolás Maduro led Venezuela to disaster and noted that Germany, like many other countries, didn’t recognize his presidency after the South American nation’s last election.

Merz said that a legal classification of the U.S. intervention is “complex” and “we will take time” on the matter.

He said that political instability must not arise in Venezuela now and that it’s important to ensure “an orderly transition to a government legitimized by elections.”

Russia calls US action ‘an act of armed aggression’

Russia’s Foreign Ministry condemned what it called a U.S. “act of armed aggression” against Venezuela in a statement posted on its Telegram channel Saturday.

“Venezuela must be guaranteed the right to determine its own destiny without any destructive, let alone military, outside intervention,” the statement said.

The ministry called for dialogue to prevent further escalation and said it reaffirmed its “solidarity” with the Venezuelan people and government, adding that Russia supports calls for an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting.