Rubio says US won’t govern Venezuela despite Trump’s ‘we’re in charge’ claim

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sunday the United States would not govern Venezuela day-to-day beyond enforcing an existing oil quarantine, even as President Donald Trump insisted America remains “in charge” following the weekend ouster of Nicolás Maduro, according to an AP News report.

Rubio’s remarks appeared designed to ease concerns that Saturday’s assertive regime change operation might drag the US into another prolonged foreign intervention, standing in contrast to Trump’s vaguer claims that America would at least temporarily “run” the oil-rich nation.

“We’re going to run it, fix it,” Trump said of Venezuela whilst aboard Air Force One on Sunday night, reiterating that “we’re in charge.”

Hours earlier, Rubio offered more nuanced clarity on CBS’s Face the Nation, explaining the US would enforce an oil quarantine already in place on sanctioned tankers before Maduro’s removal and use that leverage to press policy changes.

“And so that’s the sort of control the president is pointing to when he says that,” Rubio said. “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.”

Interim Venezuelan leader Delcy Rodríguez struck a newly conciliatory tone, inviting Trump “to collaborate” after the Supreme Court ruled her acting president on Sunday.

“We invite the US government to collaborate with us on an agenda of cooperation oriented towards shared development within the framework of international law to strengthen lasting community coexistence,” Rodríguez wrote online.

Her message marked a sharp shift from Saturday, when she called Maduro the rightful leader and declared the US operation an “atrocity,” urging Washington to release him.

The change followed Trump’s threat that she could “pay a very big price” if she didn’t fall in line with US demands. Trump told reporters Sunday night that Rodríguez is “cooperating” but repeated the threat, saying he wanted “total access” to the country’s oil operations and infrastructure.

“We need access to the oil and to other things in their country that allow us to rebuild their country,” Trump said.

Cuba announced that 32 Cuban security officers were killed in the US operation. “You know, a lot of Cubans were killed yesterday,” Trump acknowledged, adding: “There was a lot of death on the other side. No death on our side.”

Trump’s vow that America will run Venezuela has sparked concern among some Democrats and unease from parts of his Republican coalition, including an “America First” base opposed to foreign interventions and observers recalling past nation-building efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Rubio dismissed such criticism, saying Trump’s intent had been misunderstood.

“The whole foreign policy apparatus thinks everything is Libya, everything is Iraq, everything is Afghanistan,” Rubio said. “This is not the Middle East. And our mission here is very different. This is the Western Hemisphere.”

He suggested the US would give Maduro’s subordinates now in charge time to govern, saying: “We’re going to judge everything by what they do.”

Though he didn’t rule out boots on the ground, Rubio said the US was already capable of stopping alleged drug boats and sanctioned oil tankers. The blockade on sanctioned tankers “remains in place, and that’s 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,” he said.

A middle-of-the-night operation extracted Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, from their home in a military base in Caracas—an act Maduro’s government called “imperialist”. The couple faces US charges of participating in a narco-terrorism conspiracy.

The seizure capped an intensive Trump administration pressure campaign 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.

Maduro is due to make his first appearance Monday in Manhattan’s federal court. He 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 “corrupt, illegitimate government” fuelled by a drug-trafficking operation that flooded the US with cocaine.

Venezuela’s capital was unusually quiet on Sunday, with few vehicles moving and most businesses closed. Maduro’s son, lawmaker Nicolás Ernesto Guerra, has not appeared in public since the attack, though he posted a government statement on Instagram on Saturday repudiating his father’s capture.

The country’s incoming National Assembly is set to be sworn in at the legislative palace in Caracas, with the unicameral assembly remaining under ruling party control.