Mr Maduro will appear in court in New York today, where he has been charged with drug trafficking offences – in spite of doubts raised by experts who say little of the US narcotics trade is routed through Venezuela.

Professor Julia Buxton, of Liverpool John Moores University’s School of Law and Justice Studies, told the BBC that the charges against Mr Maduro were on “very flimsy ground”.

“What the Trump administration has had to do is kind of invent this notion of Maduro as a narco-terrorist in order to carry out policies of regime change,” she said.

After Mr Maduro’s late-night extraction from Caracas by US military personnel on Saturday, Donald Trump initially claimed that the US would now “run” Venezuela, though what this will mean in practice remains murky.

Mr Trump has played down the prospect of Venezuelan opposition figures coming to power and has suggested the US could work with Mr Maduro’s deputy Delcy Rodríguez, who has been sworn in as acting president.

In a joint statement on Sunday, IBA president Claudio Visco and executive director Mark Ellis said the US operation “raises serious questions under international law”.

“The IBA is fully cognisant of the grave and well-documented allegations against Nicolas Maduro and senior members of his government, including serious human rights violations, the suppression of democratic institutions, and conduct that has contributed to widespread humanitarian suffering,” they said.

“These allegations are deeply troubling and warrant robust scrutiny and accountability both under domestic and international law, pursued through lawful mechanisms, including international or independent domestic judicial processes.

“However, the United Nations Charter, whose core principles are fully embedded in the IBA’s Constitution since 1947 and are constantly upheld by the Association, enshrine the essence of the international legal order, including the sovereign equality of states, the prohibition of intervention in matters within domestic jurisdiction, and the prohibition on the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state. These principles are binding on all UN member states.

“Measures or policies aimed at coercing political change in another state, when undertaken outside internationally recognised legal frameworks, are inconsistent with these obligations and risk normalising conduct that international law was designed to prevent.

“Even in the face of ongoing reprehensible conduct by state leaders, adherence to international law remains essential to preserving the integrity of the rules-based international order.

“The IBA encourages a democratic transition in Venezuela that respects the rule of law.”