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Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested Sunday that the United States would not play a day-to-day role in government. Venezuela other than enforcing an existing “oil quarantine” on the country, a reversal after President Donald Trump announced a day earlier that the United States would rule Venezuela following the ouster of leader Nicolás Maduro.
Rubio’s statements on television talk shows appeared intended to assuage concerns about whether assertive U.S. action to achieve regime change could again produce protracted foreign intervention or a failed attempt at nation-building. They contrasted with Trump’s broad but vague assertions that the United States would at least temporarily “run” the oil-rich nation, comments that suggested some sort of governance structure under which Caracas would be controlled by Washington.
Rubio offered a more nuanced view, saying the United States would continue to enforce the oil quarantine already in place on sanctioned tankers before Maduro was removed from power Saturday morning and use that leverage as a way to push for policy changes in Venezuela.
“And so that’s the kind of oversight that the president is referring to when he says that,” Rubio said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “We are maintaining this quarantine and we hope to see changes, not only in the way the oil industry is managed for the benefit of the population, but also to put an end to drug trafficking. »
The blockade of sanctioned oil tankers – some of which have been seized by the United States – “remains in place, and it is a huge lever that will continue to be in place until we see changes that not only further the national interest of the United States, which is number one, but also lead to a better future for the Venezuelan people,” he added.
Even before the operation that arrested Maduro, experts were already questioning the legality of some aspects of the administration’s pressure campaign on Venezuela, including the deadly bombing of boats accused of drug trafficking that some researchers say pushed the limits of international law.
Trump reiterated his promise that the United States would ‘run’ Venezuela
Trump’s promise to “rule” Venezuela, repeated more than a half-dozen times during a news conference in Florida on Saturday, has raised concerns among some Democrats. It also sparked unease among parts of his own Republican coalition, including the “America First” base opposed to foreign interventions, as well as observers who recalled past nation-building efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Rubio rejected these criticisms, saying Trump’s intentions had been misunderstood by a “foreign policy establishment” obsessed with the Middle East.
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“The entire foreign policy apparatus thinks everything is Libya, everything is Iraq, everything is Afghanistan,” Rubio said. “We’re not in the Middle East. And our mission here is very different. We’re in the Western Hemisphere.”
Rubio also suggested that the United States would give Maduro’s subordinates, currently in charge, time to govern, saying: “We’re going to judge everything by what they do, and we’re going to see what they do.” ” And while he did not rule out a U.S. military presence in Venezuela, Rubio said the current U.S. “force posture” was capable of stopping sanctioned drug boats and oil tankers.
A day earlier, Trump told reporters: “We’re going to lead the country until we can make a safe, appropriate and wise transition.” » He then pointed to the national security team accompanying him, including Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and said it would be done for a while by “the people standing right behind me. We’re going to handle it, we’re going to bring it back.”
The White House declined to comment beyond what Trump said Saturday.
Maduro landed Saturday afternoon at a small airport in New York’s northern suburbs following a late-night operation that removed him and his wife, Cilia Flores, from their home at a military base in the capital Caracas — an act that Maduro’s government called “imperialist.” The couple faces US charges of participating in a narcoterrorist plot.
The Maduros’ dramatic capture ended an intensive Trump administration pressure campaign on Venezuela’s autocratic leader and months of covert planning, resulting in the most assertive U.S. action to achieve regime change since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Legal experts have raised questions about the legality of the operation, which was carried out without congressional approval.
For her part, Venezuela’s Vice President Delcy Rodriguez demanded that the United States release Maduro and called him the country’s legitimate leader as her country’s High Court named him interim president.
After arriving at the airport, Maduro was flown by helicopter to Manhattan, where a convoy of law enforcement vehicles, including an armored car, was waiting to take him to a nearby US Drug Enforcement Administration office. A video posted to social media by a White House account showed Maduro smiling as he was escorted into that office by two DEA agents grabbing his arms.
He is scheduled to make his first appearance Monday in Manhattan federal court.
Maduro and other Venezuelan officials were indicted in 2020 on charges of narcoterrorism conspiracy, and the Justice Department on Saturday issued a new indictment against Maduro and his wife, describing his administration as a “corrupt and illegitimate government” fueled by a drug trafficking operation that flooded the United States 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 boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean suspected of carrying drugs. Last week, the CIA was behind a drone strike on a docking area believed to be used by Venezuelan drug cartels – the first known direct operation on Venezuelan soil since the US campaign began in September.
Calm returns to Venezuela after the American operation
The Venezuelan capital remained unusually calm on Sunday with few vehicles on the road and convenience stores, gas stations and other businesses closed. On a road usually filled with runners, cyclists and other fitness enthusiasts on Sundays, only a handful of people were working out the day after Maduro’s impeachment.
The presidential palace was guarded by armed civilians and soldiers. In a nearby square, only a sweeper and a soldier stood, and across the street, a church remained closed for the second day in a row.
Caracas resident David Leal arrived at the parking lot where he parks his vehicles for a living and quickly realized he probably wouldn’t see any customers for a second day.
“People are still shaken,” Leal, 77, said.
—Garcia Cano reported from Caracas, Venezuela. Jorge Rueda, Associated Press editors, in Caracas, Venezuela; Lisa Mascaro, Michelle L. Price, Seung Min Kim and Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington; Farnoush Amiri in New York; Larry Neumeister in South Amboy, New Jersey, and Nicole Winfield in Rome contributed to this report.
