Interim government defiant as US holds Venezuela leader
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US President Donald Trump has said the United States might launch a second military strike on Venezuela following the capture of President Nicolas Maduro if remaining members of the administration do not co-operate with his efforts to get the country “fixed”.
Trump’s comments to reporters aboard Air Force One raised the possibility of further US military interventions in Latin America, and suggested Colombia and Mexico could also face military action if they do not reduce the flow of illicit drugs to the United States.
“Operation Colombia sounds good to me,” Trump said on Sunday, adding that Cuba, a close ally of Venezuela, “looks like it’s ready to fall” on its own without US military action.
Maduro is in a New York detention centre awaiting a Monday court appearance on drug charges. His capture by the US has sparked deep uncertainty about what is next for the oil-rich South American nation.
Trump said his administration will work with remaining members of the Maduro regime to clamp down on drug trafficking and overhaul its oil industry, rather than push for immediate elections to install a new government.
Trump’s administration has described Maduro’s capture as a law-enforcement mission to force him to face US criminal charges filed in 2020, including narco-terrorism conspiracy. Maduro has denied criminal involvement.
But Trump also said US oil companies need “total access” to the country’s vast reserves and suggested that an influx of Venezuelan emigrating to the US also factored into the decision to capture Maduro.
“What really played (into the decision to capture Maduro) is the fact that he sent millions of people into our country from prisons and from mental institutions, drug dealers, every drug addict in his country was sent into our country,” Trump said.
A top Venezuelan official has declared the country’s government would stay unified behind Maduro, and other officials say the detention of him and his wife Cilia Flores a kidnapping.
“Here, the unity of the revolutionary force is more than guaranteed, and here there is only one president, whose name is Nicolas Maduro Moros. Let no one fall for the enemy’s provocations,” Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said in an audio recording released by the ruling PSUV socialist party.
Images of the 63-year-old Maduro blindfolded and handcuffed on Saturday stunned Venezuelans. The operation was Washington’s most controversial intervention in Latin America since the invasion of Panama 37 years ago.
Without providing specifics, Defense Minister General Vladimir Padrino said on state television the US attack killed soldiers, civilians and a “large part” of Maduro’s security detail “in cold blood”.
Venezuela’s armed forces have been activated to guarantee sovereignty, he said. Vice President Delcy Rodriguez – who also serves as oil minister – has taken over as interim leader with the blessing of Venezuela’s top court, though she has said Maduro remains president.
Because of her connections with the private sector and deep knowledge of oil, the country’s top revenue source, Rodriguez has long been considered the most pragmatic member of Maduro’s inner circle. But she has publicly contradicted Trump’s claim she is willing to work with the US.
Trump said Rodriguez may pay a bigger price than Maduro “if she doesn’t do what’s right”, according to an interview with The Atlantic magazine on Sunday.
The Venezuelan communications ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on that remark.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Venezuela’s next leader should be aligned with US interests. Those include keeping Venezuela’s oil industry out of the hands of US adversaries and stopping drug trafficking.
He cited an ongoing US blockade on tankers under sanctions as leverage. “That means their economy will not be able to move forward until the conditions that are in the national interest of the United States and the interest of the Venezuelan people are met,” he said on ABC’s This Week.
The Venezuelan government has said for months Trump was seeking to take the country’s vast natural resources, especially its oil, and officials made much of his comment on Saturday that major US oil companies would move in.
While many Western nations oppose Maduro, there were many calls for the US to respect international law and questions arose over the legality of seizing a foreign head of state.
The UN Security Council planned to meet on Monday to discuss the attack. Russia and China, both major backers of Venezuela, have criticised the US.
Reuters
