In his Monday briefing to the UN Security Council, Professor Jeffrey D. Sachs warned that U.S. aggression and “economic strangulation” against Venezuela represent a grave violation of the UN Charter.

He argued that the crisis is a fundamental test of international law, stating, ”The issue is whether any Member State—by force, coercion, or economic strangulation—has the right to determine Venezuela’s political future.”

Jeffrey Sachs' full briefing to the UN Security Council regarding U.S. aggression against Venezuela on January 5, 2026

Sachs documented a long history of illegal U.S. regime-change operations and warns that returning to a state of global anarchy in the nuclear age is a path to catastrophe: ”The UN was created to place international law above anarchy... Given that we are in the nuclear age, failure cannot be repeated. Humanity would perish.”

Ultimately, he called for an immediate end to unilateral U.S. coercion, asserting that ”peace and the survival of humanity depend on whether the United Nations Charter remains a living instrument of international law or is allowed to wither into irrelevance.”