Rubio: U.S. oil quarantine of Venezuela to stay in effect following capture of Maduro

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sunday the U.S. quarantine on Venezuelan oil will continue until the Trump administration confirms that the remaining members of the government in Caracas are acting in the interest of the U.S. and for the benefit of Venezuelans.

A day after news of the U.S. military raid that resulted in the capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, Mr. Rubio said on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” that powerful political figures in Caracas have looted the revenue from the South American country’s dilapidated energy industry.

“None of the money from the oil gets to the people. It’s all stolen by the people that are on the top there. That’s why we have a quarantine,” Mr. Rubio said. “That’s a tremendous amount of leverage that we have and will continue to be in place until we see changes.”

While the White House isn’t ruling out any options in Venezuela, Mr. Rubio said the current U.S. operation there continues to be an oil quarantine that allows the Trump administration to exert “tremendous” leverage over what happens next.

“We have a country, potentially a very rich country … under the control of the [Maduro] regime that has cozied up to Iran, has cozied up to Hezbollah, has allowed narco-trafficking gangs to operate with impunity from their own territory, [and] allows boats with drugs to traffic from their territory,” the Secretary of State said. “We are addressing that.”

Key members of Mr. Maduro’s inner circle remain in power, including Vice President Delcy Rodríguez and Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, who was also indicted for narcotics trafficking. But Mr. Maduro was always the No. 1 target, Mr. Rubio said.

“It is not easy to land helicopters in the middle of the largest military base in the country … kick down his door, grab him, put him in handcuffs, read him his rights, put him in a helicopter, and leave the country without losing any Americans or American assets. That’s not an easy mission,” he said. “You’re asking me why we didn’t do that in five other places at the same time? That’s absurd.”

He said the Trump administration will assess the remaining members of the Venezuelan government before making any decisions about their status.

“The United States will retain multiple levers of leverage to ensure that our interests are protected,” Mr. Rubio said. “We’re going to judge everything by what they do, and we’re going to see what they do.”