U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks as U.S. President Donald Trump stands behind him throughout a press convention following a U.S. strike on Venezuela the place President Nicolas Maduro and his spouse, Cilia Flores, had been captured, from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago membership in Palm Seaside, Florida, U.S., January 3, 2026.
Jonathan Ernst | Reuters
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday appeared to backtrack on President Donald Trump‘s declare that the U.S. will “run” Venezuela after U.S. forces on Saturday captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and hauled him to the U.S.
Requested for particulars on how the U.S. plans to run Venezuela, Rubio stated the U.S. would use leverage gained from its oil blockade on the nation and regional navy buildup to attain its coverage goals. He didn’t say the U.S. would straight govern Venezuela.
The U.S. in current months has seized tankers related to the nation and moved navy ships and warplanes into the Caribbean.
“What is going on to occur right here is we have now a quarantine on their oil, which means their economic system will be unable to maneuver ahead till the circumstances which might be within the nationwide curiosity of the USA and the pursuits of the Venezuelan persons are met, and that is what we intend to do,” Rubio stated on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos.”
“That leverage stays, that leverage is ongoing and we count on that it is going to result in outcomes right here,” Rubio stated.
Trump stated on Saturday stated the U.S. would “run the nation till such time as we are able to do a secure, correct and considered transition.”
The feedback sparked a firestorm of criticism from Trump’s adversaries and a few allies, who warned in opposition to a nation-building train in Venezuela.
“We now have discovered via the years when America tries to do regime change and nation constructing on this manner, the American individuals pay the value in each blood and {dollars},” Senate Democratic Chief Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., stated on ABC on Sunday.
Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez was sworn in as president following Maduro’s seize. Maduro and his spouse, Cilia Flores, arrived in New York on Saturday evening to face expenses associated to drug trafficking.
Rubio’s feedback counsel that the U.S. will take a softer method with Venezuela than Trump’s preliminary ideas of ruling the nation with a “group.” Although Rubio stated Trump nonetheless might take additional navy motion to attain U.S. objectives.
Requested on NBC’s “Meet the Press” about additional navy motion in Venezuela, Rubio stated Trump “retains all his optionality.”
Rubio additionally extrapolated on the U.S.’ goals with Venezuela’s oil reserves. Trump on Saturday stated the U.S. is “going to have our very giant United States oil corporations — the largest anyplace on the earth — go in, spend billions of {dollars}, repair the badly damaged infrastructure, the oil infrastructure.”
Venezuela sits on the biggest confirmed oil reserves on the earth.
“In the end, this isn’t about securing the oil fields; that is about guaranteeing that no sanctioned oil can come out and in till they make adjustments to the governance of that whole business,” Rubio stated on ABC. “The way in which to handle it to the good thing about the Venezuelan individuals is to get personal corporations that aren’t from Iran or some other place to go in and put money into the tools.”
Rubio stated he has not spoken to particular U.S. oil corporations in regards to the prospect of beginning enterprise in Venezuela. At the moment, solely Chevron operates within the nation.
“We’re fairly sure that there can be dramatic curiosity from Western corporations,” Rubio stated.
Rubio stated Inside Secretary Doug Burgum and Vitality Secretary Chris Wright can be “taking an evaluation and chatting with a few of these corporations.”
Clarification: The U.S. navy captured Nicolas Maduro and eliminated him from Venezuela. That was not clear in a reference in an earlier model of this text.
