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Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested Sunday that the United States would not govern Venezuela day-to-day other than enforcing an existing \u201coil quarantine\u201d on the country, a turnaround after President Donald Trump announced a day earlier that the U.S. would be running Venezuela following its ouster of leader Nicol\u00e1s Maduro.<\/p>\n
Rubio’s statements on TV talk shows seemed designed to temper concerns about whether the assertive American action to achieve regime change might again produce a prolonged foreign intervention or failed attempt at nation-building. They stood in contrast to Trump\u2019s broad but vague claims that the U.S. would at least temporarily \u201crun\u201d the oil-rich nation, comments that suggested some sort of governing structure under which Caracas would be controlled by Washington.<\/p>\n
Rubio offered a more nuanced take, saying the U.S. would continue to enforce an oil quarantine that was already in place on sanctioned tankers before Maduro was removed from power early Saturday and use that leverage as a means to press policy changes in Venezuela.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd so that\u2019s the sort of control the president is pointing to when he says that,” Rubio said on CBS\u2019 \u201cFace the Nation.\u201d “We continue with that quarantine, and we expect to see that there will be changes, not just in the way the oil industry is run for the benefit of the people, but also so that they stop the drug trafficking.\u201d<\/p>\n
The blockade on sanctioned oil tankers \u2014 some of which have been seized by the U.S. \u2014 \u201cremains in place, and that\u2019s a tremendous amount of leverage that will continue to be in place until we see changes that not just further the national interest of the United States, which is number one, but also that lead to a better future for the people of Venezuela,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Leaders in Venezuela have so far pushed back, at least publicly, calling on the Trump administration to release Maduro.<\/p>\n
Even before the operation that nabbed Maduro, experts were already questioning the legality of aspects of the administration’s pressure campaign on Venezuela, including the deadly bombing of boats accused of trafficking drugs that some scholars said stretched the boundaries of international law.<\/p>\n
Trump’s vow to \u201crun\u201d Venezuela, repeated more than half a dozen times at a news conference in Florida on Saturday, sparked concerns among some Democrats. It also drew unease from parts of his own Republican coalition, including an \u201cAmerica First\u201d base that is opposed to foreign interventions, and also from observers who recalled past nation-building efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan.<\/p>\n
Rubio dismissed such criticism, saying that Trump\u2019s intent had been misunderstood.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whole foreign policy apparatus thinks everything is Libya, everything is Iraq, everything is Afghanistan,\u201d Rubio said. “This is not the Middle East. And our mission here is very different. This is the Western Hemisphere.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rubio also suggested the U.S. would give Maduro\u2019s subordinates now in charge time to govern, saying, \u201cWe\u2019re going to judge everything by what they do.\u201d And though he did not rule out boots on the ground in Venezuela, Rubio said the U.S, which has built up its presence in the region, was already capable of stopping drug boats and sanctioned tankers.<\/p>\n
A day earlier, Trump told reporters, \u201cWe\u2019re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition.\u201d He later pointed to his national security team with him, including Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and said it would be done for a period of time by \u201cthe people that are standing right behind me. We\u2019re gonna be running it we\u2019re gonna be bringing it back.”<\/p>\n
The White House declined to comment beyond what Trump said Saturday.<\/p>\n
Maduro landed late Saturday afternoon at a small airport in New York City’s northern suburbs following the middle-of-the-night operation that extracted him and his wife, Cilia Flores, from their home in a military base in the capital city of Caracas \u2014 an act that Maduro\u2019s government called \u201cimperialist.\u201d The couple faces U.S. charges of participating in a narco-terrorism conspiracy.<\/p>\n
The dramatic seizure of the Maduros capped an intensive Trump administration pressure campaign on Venezuela\u2019s autocratic leader and months of secret planning, resulting in the most assertive American action to achieve regime change since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Legal experts raised questions about the lawfulness of the operation, which was done without congressional approval.<\/p>\n
Venezuela\u2019s vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, demanded that the U.S. free Maduro and called him the country\u2019s rightful leader as her nation\u2019s high court named her interim president. So did the country’s defense minister, General-in-Chief Vladimir Padrino L\u00f3pez, who said Sunday that the country’s armed forces \u201ccategorically reject the cowardly kidnapping.\u201d<\/p>\n
Maduro is due to make his first appearance Monday in Manhattan’s federal court.<\/p>\n
Maduro and other Venezuelan officials were indicted in 2020 on narco-terrorism conspiracy charges, and the Justice Department released a new indictment Saturday of Maduro and his wife that painted his administration as a \u201ccorrupt, illegitimate government\u201d fueled by a drug-trafficking operation that flooded the U.S with cocaine. The U.S. government does not recognize Maduro as the country\u2019s leader.<\/p>\n
The Trump administration spent months building up American forces in the region and carrying out attacks on boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean for allegedly ferrying drugs. Last week, the CIA was behind a drone strike at a docking area believed to have been used by Venezuelan drug cartels \u2014 the first known direct operation on Venezuelan soil since the U.S. campaign began in September.<\/p>\n
Venezuela\u2019s capital remained unusually quiet Sunday with few vehicles moving around and convenience stores, gas stations and other businesses closed. A road typically filled with runners, cyclists and other fitness enthusiasts on Sundays only had a handful of people working out.<\/p>\n
The presidential palace was guarded by armed civilians and members of the military. At a nearby plaza, only a street sweeper and a soldier stood, and across the street, a church remained close for a second day in a row.<\/p>\n
Under Venezuelan law, Rodr\u00edguez would take over from Maduro. Rodriguez, however, stressed during a Saturday appearance on state television that she did not plan to assume power, before Venezuela\u2019s high court ordered that she assume the interim role. Trump told The Atlantic in an interview Sunday that Rodr\u00edguez could \u201cpay a very big price\u201d if she doesn\u2019t do what he thinks is right for Venezuela.<\/p>\n
That contrasted with the Republican president\u2019s comments about Rodr\u00edguez on Saturday when he said Rubio had spoken with her and she was willing to do what the U.S. thinks is needed to improve the standard of living in Venezuela.<\/p>\n
Trump told the magazine that \u201cif she doesn\u2019t do what\u2019s right, she is going to pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump told the New York Post in an interview Saturday that the U.S. wouldn\u2019t need to station troops in Venezuela if she \u201cdoes what we want.\u201d<\/p>\n
Caracas resident David Leal arrived to the lot where he parks vehicles for a living only to quickly realize that he would likely not see any clients for a second day.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are still shaken,\u201d said Leal, 77.<\/p>\n
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com<\/p>\n
#Rubiosuggests #U.S #won039t #govern #Venezuela #daytoday #oil #quarantine #exercise #control<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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