France, Jan. 4 -- Following early-morning air strikes on Caracus on Saturday, the UScaptured Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro. The US administration says the deposed president is now in prison in New York awaiting trial on drug-trafficking and weapons charges.

In an official statement published on X, France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said that while Maduro had "gravely violated" the rights of Venezuelans, the military operation that led to him being grabbed "contravenes the principle of non-use of force, which underpins international law".

"No lasting political solution can be imposed from the outside", he said, warning that "the increasing violations" of this principle by permanent UN Security Council members "will have seriou...