US to ‘run Venezuela’ in interim after Maduro capture, says Trump

President Donald Trump said the US would run Venezuela until a transition could be organised, hours after a US operation captured leader Nicolás Maduro, ousting the strongman from power after months of mounting military and economic pressure on his regime.

“We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,” Trump said Saturday at a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.

“So, we don’t want to be involved with having somebody else get in, and we have the same situation that we had for the last long period of years.”

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Trump said the US administration of Venezuela would include deploying US oil companies to the country, though indicated that his embargo “on all Venezuelan oil remains in full effect” and that US forces would stay on alert.

“We’re going to have our very large United States oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure, and start making money for the country,” Trump said.

But the president offered few other details on how he planned to administer the country, saying it would be done “with a group” largely comprised of senior US officials and with an emphasis on repairing oil infrastructure and making sure the people of Venezuela were “also taken care of.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio had been in recent contact with Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez, the US president said, adding he expected her cooperation going forward.

“She had a long conversation with Marco, and she said, ‘We’ll do whatever you need,’” Trump said. “I think she was quite gracious, but she really doesn’t have a choice.”

Asked if US boots would be on the ground, Trump said he was “not afraid” of the idea to make sure the country was run properly.

Maduro and his wife were traveling via ship to New York to face an indictment on alleged drug trafficking, weapons and conspiracy charges, the US president said. He added that no Americans were killed and no US military equipment was lost in the mission to capture the Venezuelan leader, calling it “an assault like people have not seen since World War Two.”

The attack offered the latest dramatic demonstration of Trump’s willingness in his second term to deploy US military power to achieve his foreign policy aims with sweeping implications for both Venezuela, a nation with vast oil reserves, and the region.

Trump said the US had been prepared to carry out a “second wave” of strikes if needed but that was now probably not necessary. “The American armada remains poised in position, and the United States retains all military options until United States demands have been fully met and fully satisfied,” Trump said.

Trump foreign policy

Trump cast the move as in line with longstanding US foreign policy, citing the Monroe Doctrine asserting American influence over the Western Hemisphere.

The president and other officials seemed to suggest that Cuba could be at risk of a similar military action, with the president saying that the countries were “very similar in the sense that we want to help the people in Cuba, but we want to also help the people that were forced out of Cuba and living in this country.”

“Look, I lived in Havana, and I was in the government, I’d be concerned, at least,” Rubio added.

But Trump also emphasized that his decision was driven by his conviction that Venezuelan leaders had “stolen” US investment in the country’s energy sector.

“We built Venezuela oil industry with American talent, drive and skill, and the socialist regime stole it from us during those previous administrations, and they stole it through force. This constituted one of the largest thefts of American property in the history of our country,” Trump said.

Asked about how the strike would impact US relations with China, Russia, Iran and other nations that have interests in Venezuela, Trump highlighted the country’s energy riches and a desire to do business with others.

“Well, Russia, when we get things straightened out, but in terms of other countries that want oil, we’re in the oil business. We’re going to sell it to them. We’re not going to say otherwise, we’ll be selling oil, probably in much larger doses,” he said.

Interim team

Trump was joined by officials including Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Joint Chiefs Chairman Dan Caine. Trump said Hegseth and Rubio would be part of the team running the country and said that the secretary of State had been in touch with Venezuela’s vice president.

Trump earlier Saturday urged supporters of Maduro still in the country to shift their allegiances, saying “if they stay loyal, the future’s really bad for them.”

He also issued a warning over the state of Americans detained by the Maduro regime, saying they had let officials know “that you better not touch one of them.”

But Trump also appeared to cast doubt on opposition leader María Corina Machado running the country, suggesting he did not see her as a viable replacement for Maduro.

“I think it would be very tough for her to be the leader. She doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country,” he said. “She’s a very nice woman, but she doesn’t have the respect.”

Trump said he did not know the whereabouts of Machado, who is in an unknown location, and indicated he had not been in contact with her.

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Machado on X earlier Saturday said the Venezuelan opposition was ready to assume power, calling for Edmundo Gonzalez — her stand-in candidate in recent elections — to take office and urging the armed forces to recognize him.

Asked for his message to the Venezuelan people, Trump said: “You’re going to have peace, justice. You’re going to have some of the riches that you should have had for a long period of time, it was stolen from you.”

Federal charges

Trump long framed his campaign against Maduro as focused on threats from drugs and terrorism. Successive US administrations have assailed the Venezuelan president as an illegitimate leader whose policies spurred hyperinflation, severe food and medical shortages and the exodus of more than 8 million Venezuelans.

“The illegitimate dictator Maduro was the kingpin of a vast criminal network responsible for trafficking colossal amounts of deadly and illicit drugs into the United States,” Trump said Saturday, pledging that the deposed leader and his wife would face the “full might of American justice and stand trial on American soil.”

US Attorney General Pam Bondi said Saturday that Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, had been indicted, with the Venezuelan leader facing charges of “Narco-Terrorism Conspiracy, Cocaine Importation Conspiracy, Possession of Machine Guns and Destructive Devices, and Conspiracy to Possess Machine guns and Destructive Devices against the United States.”

Caine offered details on the military operation, saying the strike was the result of months of intelligence work and carried out by more than 150 aircraft, including F-22s, F-35s, F-18s and B-1 bombers.

The attack also included “numerous remotely piloted drones” and was undertaken at night to minimize the potential for civilian casualties and to amp up the element of surprise.

A helicopter force approached Maduro’s compound shortly after 1 a.m. Washington time, 2 a.m. in Caracas, taking fire, Caine said, damaging one helicopter. Maduro and his wife “gave up” and were taken into US custody, the Joint Chiefs chair said.

Capturing Maduro marks an unprecedented intervention and a stunning fall for a leader who became president in 2013. It risks destabilizing a country wracked by economic, political and social turmoil, in a region already on edge. Recent weeks saw the US carry out strikes on purported drug-trafficking boats and implement a blockade of sanctioned oil tankers going into and out of Venezuela.

Saturday’s operation prompted condemnations from Maduro supporters including Russia’s foreign ministry and Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who called for a United Nations Security Council meeting.

The Russian Foreign Ministry condemned the “act of armed aggression,” saying that it’s important to avoid further escalation.

Trump allies including Argentina President Javier Milei celebrated the news.

Some Democratic lawmakers took to social media to criticize the military operation before the capture of Maduro had been announced. Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune said in a post on X that he had spoken with Rubio and expected “further briefings from the administration.” He called Maduro’s apprehension through a Justice Department warrant “an important first step to bring him to justice.”

Trump pushed back on criticism over not going to Congress, saying it had a tendency to leak classified information and that he wanted to avoid that.

“I have to say they knew we were coming at some point. You know, a lot of ships out there,” he said.

© 2026 Bloomberg

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