1/13/2026 CSU|LAW Public Forum on U.S. Attack against Venezuela

CSU|LAW will present The U.S. Attacks against Venezuela: Does Might Make Right? 12noon-1pm, Tuesday, January 13, 2026.  This hybrid public forum will take place in the CSU|LAW Moot Court Room and via Zoom; Zoom link provided on event web page.  Speakers will be Milena Sterio, Joseph C. Hostetler-BakerHostetler Professor of Law and Director of the CSU|LAW International Law Center and LL.M. Program, and Kyle Shen, Assistant Professor of Law.  The speakers will discuss the relevant international law issues surrounding the January 3 U.S. attack against Venezuela, kidnapping of Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Adela Flores, and criminal indictment in the Southern District of New York against Maduro and Flores for conspiracy to traffic drugs and arms into the U.S.  Did the U.S. attack against Venezuela violate the international law prohibition on the use of force?  Can the U.S. rely on any exceptions to this prohibition, such as self-defense, or can the U.S. claim that its intervention was authorized or invited by Venezuela?  Are other historical precedents, such as the 1989-90 invasion of Panama, and the subsequent prosecution of the ousted Panamanian leader, Manuel Noriega, relevant today, and do they provide justification for the Trump Administration’s actions in Venezuela?  Does the principle of head of state immunity bar the prosecution of Maduro in U.S. court?  Is the fact that Maduro was kidnapped relevant for the purposes of U.S. federal court jurisdiction?  Finally, what is the status of international law in the U.S., and is international law binding on our executive branch?  This public forum is sponsored by the CSU|LAW International Law Center.