washington — Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested Sunday that the United States will not rule Venezuela from day to day except by enforcing the existing “oil quarantine” in the countrya U-turn after President Donald Trump announced a day earlier that the US would run Venezuela his way ousting leader Nicolás Maduro.
Rubio’s statements on television talk shows appeared to be designed allay concerns that assertive action to achieve regime change in Venezuela could lead the US to another prolonged foreign intervention or failed attempt at state-building. They stood in contrast to Trump’s broad but vague claims that the US would at least temporarily “run” the oil-rich nation, comments that hinted at some kind of government structure under which Caracas would be controlled by Washington.
Rubio offered a more nuanced view, saying the U.S. will continue enforce an oil quarantine which was already in place on sanctioned tankers before Maduro was ousted from power early Saturday morning, and use that leverage as a means to push for policy changes in Venezuela.
“And that’s the kind of control the president is indicating when he says that,” Rubio said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “We continue to quarantine and we expect to see changes, not only in the way the oil industry is run for the benefit of the people, but also to stop the drug trade.”
Blockade of sanctioned oil tankers – some of which were seized by the US “It remains in place, and that’s a tremendous amount of leverage that will exist until we see changes that not only support the national interests of the United States, which are number one, but also lead to a better future for the people of Venezuela,” he added.
Venezuela’s leaders have so far refused, at least publicly, and are calling on the Trump administration to release Maduro.
Even before the operation that caught Maduro, experts were already questioning the legality of aspects of the government’s pressure campaign against Venezuela, including deadly bombardment of ships a drug-trafficking charge that some scholars say has crossed the lines of international law.
Trump repeated a promise that the US would “manage” Venezuela
Trump’s promise to “manage” Venezuela, repeated more than half a dozen times at a news conference in Florida on Saturday, raised concerns among some Democrats. It also drew relief from parts of his own Republican coalition, including the “America First” base, which opposes foreign intervention, and from observers who recalled past state-building efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Rubio dismissed such criticism, saying Trump’s intent was misunderstood.
“The whole foreign policy establishment thinks everything is Libya, everything is Iraq, everything is Afghanistan,” Rubio said. “This is not the Middle East. And our mission here is very different. This is the Western Hemisphere.”
Rubio also suggested the US would give Maduro’s underlings now in charge time to govern, saying: “We will judge everything by what they do.” And while he didn’t rule out boots on the ground in Venezuela, Rubio said the US, which has built up its presence in the region, has already been able to stop drug boats and sanctioned tankers.
A day earlier, Trump told reporters, “We’re going to run the country until we can make a safe, proper, judicious transition.” He later pointed to his national security team with him, including Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and said that for a period of time, “the people who are right behind me will do it. We’re going to drive it, we’re going to bring it back.”
The White House declined to comment beyond what Trump said Saturday.
Maduro’s arrival
Maduro landed late Saturday afternoon at a small airport in the northern suburbs of New York in the middle of the night. an operation that took him and his wife outCilia Flores, from their home on a military base in the capital Caracas – an act Maduro’s government calls “imperialistic”. The couple face US charges of involvement in a narco-terrorist conspiracy.
The dramatic confiscation of the Madurese completed the an an intense campaign under pressure from the Trump administration about Venezuela’s autocratic leader and the months of secret planning that resulted in the most assertive US action to achieve regime change since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Legal experts raised questions on the legality of an operation which was carried out without the consent of Congress.
Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez demanded that the US free Maduro and he called him the rightful leader of the country as its national supreme court appointed its interim president. So did the country’s defense minister, Vladimir Padrino López, who said Sunday that the country’s armed forces “categorically reject cowardly kidnapping” and will “maintain internal order and peace.”
Maduro is scheduled to make his first appearance Monday in federal court in Manhattan.
Maduro and other Venezuelan officials were indicted in 2020 on narco-terrorism charges in a conspiracy. The Ministry of Justice issued a new indictment Saturday by Maduro and his wife, who portrayed his administration as a “corrupt, illegitimate government” fueled by a drug-trafficking operation that flooded the US with cocaine. The US government does not recognize Maduro as the country’s leader.
The Trump administration has spent months building up U.S. forces in the region and carrying out attacks on ships in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean for allegedly transporting drugs.
After the American operation, Venezuela is calm
Venezuela’s government continued business as usual over the weekend as ministers remained in their posts.
capital it was unusually quiet On Sundays, few vehicles move and shops, gas stations and other businesses are closed.
Maduro’s son, lawmaker Nicolás Ernesto Guerra, has not been seen in public since the attack. On Saturday, he posted a government statement on Instagram denying the capture of his father and stepmother.
The country’s incoming National Assembly is to be sworn in at the Legislative Palace in Caracas. The unicameral assembly will remain under the control of the ruling party.
Under Venezuelan law, Rodríguez would take over from Maduro. But Rodriguez stressed during an appearance on state television on Saturday that she had no plans to take power until Venezuela’s top court ordered her to take on an interim role. In an interview with The Atlantic on Sunday, Trump said Rodríguez could “pay a very high price” if she doesn’t do what she thinks is right for Venezuela.
That contrasted with the Republican president’s comments about Rodríguez on Saturday, when he said Rubio had spoken with her and that she was willing to do what the US thought was needed to improve living standards in Venezuela.
In an interview with the New York Post on Saturday, Trump said the US would not need to deploy troops to Venezuela if it “does what we want”.
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