United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Sunday that Washington would not play a day-to-day role in governing Venezuela, apart from enforcing an existing “oil quarantine” on the country, the Associated Press reported.
The remarks were a turnaround from President Donald Trump’s statement a day earlier, when he said that the US would be “running” Venezuela after President Nicolás Maduro was captured.
On Sunday, Venezuelan vice-president Delcy Rodríguez, a Maduro ally who has been appointed acting president, offered “to collaborate” with Washington, The Guardian reported. In a message on social media, Rodríguez said that she hoped to build “respectful relations” with Trump.
“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 said.
Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were captured by the US military in an overnight operation on Saturday.
While Venezuela has not officially confirmed how many persons were killed during the US strikes on Maduro’s compound in Caracas, The New York Times cited a Venezuelan official as saying that at least 80 persons were killed in the attack.
Maduro is set to appear in a federal court in New York’s Manhattan later on Monday to face narco-terrorism charges. He and his wife are currently lodged in a jail in Brooklyn.
On Sunday, Rubio said that the US would use the existing oil quarantine on Venezuela and use it as leverage to push for policy changes. “That is the sort of control the president is pointing to when he says that,” Rubio was quoted as saying on CBS News.
“We expect to see that there will be changes,” Rubio was quoted as saying. “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.”
The blockade on sanctioned oil tankers, some of which have been seized by the US, “will continue to be in place until we see changes that not just further the national interest of the United States…but also that lead to a better future for the people of Venezuela”, Rubio added.
The US has accused Maduro of narco terrorism and drug trafficking, among other crimes – allegations that the Venezuelan government rejects.
Caracas has described the US government’s actions as “military aggression” and has demanded that Maduro and Flores be immediately released.
Since late August, the US has put together a major military deployment off the Venezuelan coast with the stated goal of combating drug trafficking in Latin America, though it has focused on Venezuela.
The US is among the countries in the West that do not recognise the Maduro government in Venezuela. Washington has long backed the Venezuelan Opposition.
Trump threatens military operation against Colombia, Mexico
On Sunday, Trump threatened military action against Colombia and Mexico after Venezuela, the Associated Press reported.
Referring to Colombian President Gustavo Petro, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that the country was “run by a sick man” and accused him of “making cocaine and selling it to the United States”.
Asked whether this could involve a US operation targeting Petro, Trump responded: “Sounds good to me.”
He also said that Mexico needed to “get their act together” on combating drug trafficking.
Trump added that he had repeatedly offered US troops to Mexico but that country’s President Claudia Sheinbaum is “concerned, she’s a little afraid”.
On Cuba, Trump said that he did not think military action was necessary. “I think it’s just going to fall,” the Associated Press quoted him as saying.
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