THE RECENT LOSS of lives in Venezuela is “appalling” and “often overlooked” when the US raid on the capital is discussed, President Catherine Connolly has said.

Then-Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores were taken from their home in Caracas at the weekend in a night-time raid by the US at the weekend which involved strikes on the country, in which more than 115 people were killed.

Maduro appeared before a US courtroom on Monday, where he pleaded not guilty to federal drug trafficking charges.

Maduro’s deputy Delcy Rodriguez has been sworn in as Venezuela’s acting president.

President Connolly addressed the crisis in Venezuela as she gave a speech to mark the beginning of the Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition in the RDS.

“I stand here with hope for the future, notwithstanding the tremendous challenges that we face,” Connolly said during the end of her speech at the expo.

“And I get that hope from you as young people, from your creativity and from your honesty and from your dedication to your subjects.

“My hope is also in the future, which, as the United Nations General Secretary has said, there must be a full respect for international law, including the United Nations Charter and the rule of law.”

She added: “The recent loss of lives in Venezuela is appalling and is often overlooked in the debate.”

President Connolly has been a vocal critic of the US, and has opposed the US military’s use of Shannon Airport in Co Clare.

Earlier this week, Taoiseach Micheál Martin stopped himself short of criticising the US military intervention in Venezuela.

“We do believe that the future of Venezuela is one that must be decided by the people of Venezuela, and everybody should work to create the right conditions to enable free and fair elections to take place in Venezuela,” Martin told the Irish Times earlier this week, though he added that Maduro “did a lot of damage and was quite tyrannical in his approach and repressive as a leader”.