The Dutch government will not officially condemn the United States for breaking international law following the abduction of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, foreign minister David van Weel said during a debate on Thursday.

MPs from the foreign affairs committee had been recalled ahead of the official start of the parliamentary year to discuss the situation in Venezuela and its ramifications for nearby Caribbean islands Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao, as well as the American threat to Greenland.

“Eight million Venezuelans have already fled the country and the surrounding countries are feeling the negative effects of the narco state it has become,” the minister told MPs. “Iran, Russia and China have profited from the situation. Hamas has put mines there and Hamas fighters go there to recuperate.”

The option favoured by Van Weel is to keep the lines of communication with the US open, citing talks with US secretary of state Marco Rubio, who he said had tried to reason with Maduro. “He would not listen, so the United States decided he should go,” he told MPs.

Van Weel said the United States had “learned from other regime changes” in Iraq and Afghanistan, where the country sank into chaos following the collapse of the ruling class. This time, Washington will combine negotiation and pressure to force interim president Decly Rodríguez to come to economic cooperation, the release of prisoners and democratic elections.

“That is what I have been told and what I want to share with you in all openness,” Van Weel said.

Talks with Rodriguez are ongoing, and the EU wants to play a role in them, he said. “As European countries, we want to focus on things where we can have an effect, such as the release of political prisoners and contacts with the opposition,” he said.

A minority of MPs wanted a strongly worded public condemnation of the US actions. Denk leader Stephan van Baarle called US president Trump “a dangerous despot” while Volt MP Laurens Dassen accused him of “imperialist power politics”.

GroenLinks-PvdA MP Tom van der Lee said the intervention in Venezuela will encourage Russia and China to do whatever they want and future government party D66 also said “the attack should be labelled a breach of international law”.

Nevertheless, a majority of MPs supported Van Weel’s approach, with CDA MP Derk Boswijk favouring “not treading the moral high ground but not being without criticism either”. Potential coalition partner JA21 said there is “no place for emotional or ideological wishful thinking, only realism”.  

VVD MP Eric van der Burg said any sanctions against the US would be “unacceptable”. “We chose to be completely dependent on Chinese products and on the US for our defense because it’s cheaper. Now we are paying the price and so is Ukraine,” he said.

Caribbean

The situation in Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao has “normalised” since the events in Venezuela, Van Weel said.

Asked about Trump’s reiterated threats to seize Greenland, part of the EU and Nato member Denmark, Van Weel said Europe is contemplating a joint Nato mission to strengthen Greenland’s defense against a perceived Russian threat to placate Trump.

A majority of MPs said the Netherlands and the EU must work to limit their military and economic dependence on the United States as quickly as possible.