Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the U.S. quarantine on Venezuelan oil isn’t going anywhere, at least not until the Trump administration is convinced that what remains of the government in Caracas is acting in the interests of the U.S. and the Venezuelan people.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said President Trump has delivered a blunt message to Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez: Work with Washington, or Washington will find someone else who will.
Speaking on Sunday evening with reporters aboard Air Force One, Mr. Trump said his administration is working with interim President Delcy Rodriguez, whom he described as “cooperating.”
But he made clear that she must grant the United States “total access” to the country.
“Don’t ask me who is in charge because I will give you an answer and it will be very controversial,” Mr. Trump said. When a reporter pressed him on what he meant, he replied, ”it means we’re in charge. We’re in charge.”
Asked how that squares with his past criticism of nation‑building abroad, about which his MAGA base is skeptical, Mr. Trump said the situation is different, likening Venezuela to a sick neighbor.
“This isn’t a country that is on the other side of the world,” he said. “This is Venezuela, in our area.”
The dust continued to settle Sunday after the dramatic U.S. military operation in Caracas that ended with the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
Mr. Maduro, now facing narco‑terrorism and cocaine‑importation conspiracy charges, is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.
The former bus driver, who has led the country since the 2013 death of President Hugo Chavez, and his wife are expected in Manhattan federal court Monday.
Across Venezuela, uncertainty hung in the air as the world tried to figure out what comes next, especially after Mr. Trump vowed to “run” the country until a “safe, proper, and judicious transition.”
Mr. Rubio attempted to clarify the administration’s approach. He said no U.S. troops are on the ground in Venezuela and that Washington plans to exert significant influence over the country’s oil industry to pressure the remaining leaders into political change.
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“That’s why we have a quarantine,” Mr. Rubio said Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “That’s a tremendous amount of leverage that we have and will continue to be in place until we see changes.”
He said the U.S. will keep a strong naval presence in the Caribbean to monitor maritime traffic and push Venezuela toward a fundamentally different future.
“We don’t have the expectation that’s going to happen in the next 15 hours,” he said. “What we do have an expectation is that it move in that direction. We think it’s in our national interest and, frankly, in the interest of the people of Venezuela.”
Ms. Noem said Mr. Trump has had “very matter‑of‑fact and very clear” conversations with Ms. Rodriguez about what the U.S. expects. Ms. Rodriguez served as Mr. Maduro’s vice president and was tapped by Venezuela’s high court to serve as interim president.
“You can lead, or you can get out of the way,” Ms. Noem said on “Fox News Sunday.”
Ms. Rodriguez, whom the U.S. sanctioned during Mr. Trump’s first term for undermining Venezuelan democracy, has demanded Mr. Maduro’s release and said the U.S. wants to take the country’s natural resources.
“There is only one president in Venezuela, and his name is Nicolas Maduro Moros,” Ms. Rodriguez said in a televised address hours after the U.S. strikes and Mr. Maduro’s capture.
Mr. Trump said she is ready to cooperate, suggesting that her private conversations differ from her public posturing.
“She’s essentially willing to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again,” Mr. Trump told reporters Saturday.
Mr. Rubio said the administration will judge Ms. Rodriguez based on her actions, not her words, suggesting her immediate rhetoric could be attributed to the jailing of her former boss.
“What we are going to react to is very simple: What do you do?” he said on ABC’s “This Week.” “Not what you’re saying publicly.”
Democrats have accused Mr. Trump of overstepping his constitutional authority and keeping lawmakers in the dark.
“This was a military action, and pursuant to the Constitution, only Congress has the power to declare war to authorize acts that take place in this regard,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, New York Democrat, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“We have to make sure when we return to Washington, D.C., that legislative action is taken to ensure that no further military steps occur absent explicit congressional approval,” he said.
The Trump administration maintains that the operation did not require congressional approval.
Mr. Jeffries also questioned whether Venezuelans will be any better off with Mr. Trump calling the shots.
“He’s done a terrible job running the United States of America,” he said. “So the notion that he’s going to run Venezuela and make life better for the Venezuelan people, of course, is belied by the facts as to what he’s done as president here in the United States of America.”
But Mr. Trump warned Sunday evening of potentially more such actions, taking aim at Colombian President Gustavo Petro, calling him a “sick man” who “likes selling cocaine to the United States,” and warning that “he is not going to be doing it very long.”
When asked whether that meant a potential similar U.S. operation in Colombia, he responded, “it sounds good to me.”
He also predicted that Cuba, a communist dictatorship for more than 60 years, would fall of its own accord and “I don’t think we need any action.” He also said that “a lot of Cubans were killed” in the operation.
The Cuban government said Sunday evening that 32 of its officers were killed in Venezuela and announced two day of national mourning.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, Maryland Democrat, said the president is simply trying to distract from his troubles at home.
“Trump’s presidency is sinking like a stone, our economy is collapsing under the weight of Trump’s unconstitutional tariffs, the administration’s efforts to suppress the Epstein files are failing, and millions of Americans just lost their health care insurance coverage,” Mr. Raskin said.
He accused Mr. Trump of engaging in a double standard regarding Latin American political leaders involved in the drug trade.
The raid was carried out “just one month after he pardoned the drug-dealing former president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernandez, commuting his 45-year sentence after one year,” he said.
Mr. Maduro’s ouster was met with celebration and protests.
In South Florida, revelers chanted “liberty” and draped Venezuelan flags over their shoulders.
People rallied outside El Arepazo restaurant, a hub of Venezuelan culture in the Miami suburbs. One man held a piece of cardboard with “Libertad” scrawled in black marker.
On the other hand, protests broke out in New York City. Protesters demanded Mr. Maduro’s release and marched with “No war with Venezuela,” “No Blood for Oil” and “[expletive] all colonizers” signs.
• Mike Glenn contributed to this article, which is based in part on wire service reports.
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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