Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro during his presidential campaign in Caracas, April 2013. Photo: EPA/MIGUEL GUTIERRES.
Political leaders in Albania and Kosovo, both vocal allies of Washington, spoke out strongly in support of the United States attack on Venezuela on Saturday – but other states urged a return to calm or gave no immediate response.
Albania’s Foreign Minister Elisa Spiropali said in a statement on X that her country “unequivocally stands with the United States” and President Donald Trump in their action against what she described as “Venezuela’s narco-terrorist regime”.
Spiropali also said that Albania supports US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s “strong leadership” in “confronting authoritarianism, corruption, and transnational criminal networks”.
Venezuela’s authoritarian leader Nicolas Maduro, who was captured by US forces along with his wife during the military strike and may now be tried in the US, has denied leading a narcotics cartel that ships drugs to the US – which Trump has claimed as a justification for intervention.
In Kosovo, President Vjosa Osmani also said that her country “stands firmly with the United States” and Trump.
“President Trump stood with the people of Venezuela and stood up to Maduro’s narco-state – protecting America and the rest of the world from cartels and organised crime. This is what strength and American leadership look like,” Osmani wrote on X.
Kosovo partly owes its independence to NATO and US military intervention against Serbian forces in 1999.
“Kosovo understands the impact of American resolve – our own liberation is a testament to it,” Osmani said. Venezuela is one of the countries that has not recognised Kosovo.
Turkey, which under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has maintained good ties both with Trump and with Venezuelan leader Maduro, called for calm.
“Turkey attaches importance to the stability of Venezuela and to the peace and wellbeing of the people of Venezuela,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The ministry called on all parties to “exercise restraint in order to prevent the current situation from leading to adverse consequences for regional and international security”. Its statement did not mention the capture of Maduro by US forces.
Most Western Balkan states have so far remained silent, with no immediate reactions from leaderships to the US attack on the Latin American state.
However, Croatian ambassador Ranko Vilovic, who covers Venezuela from Brazil, told Croatian Radio that he is monitoring the situation and is in contact with representatives of the Croat community in the Venezuelan capital Caracas, which he said numbers about 5,000 people.
“We are in contact with representatives, and so far, according to our information, no one has been injured. The attacks that occurred just before 2 a.m. local time were aimed at military infrastructure, primarily air bases and naval bases. Civilians are safe,” Vilovic told Croatian Radio.
The Greek Foreign Ministry also said it was “closely monitoring the situation in Venezuela”. It said in a statement on X that the Greek embassy in Caracas “is in contact with the Greek community in the country and ready to provide assistance”. The Greek community in Venezuela numbers up to 3,000 people.
There were some signs of leftist opposition to the Trump military operation, however. The Greek Communist Party, which has 21 seats in parliament, called a rally for Saturday evening to express solidarity with the people of Venezuela and the struggle against what it called “the US’s imperialist intervention”.
Bulgaria’s Foreign Ministry meanwhile opened a hotline for Bulgarians living in Venezuela to call, and said it is “in contact with all diplomatic and consulate representatives of Bulgaria” who are in the country.