Hours after President Donald Trump stunned the world by saying the U.S. plans to “run” Venezuela, uncertainty over what that means and who is in charge loomed over the South American nation.
Ousted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was an indicted prisoner on a flight bound for New York by the time his Vice President Delcy Rodríguez — who Trump said would partner with Washington to “make Venezuela great again” — denounced the intervention as “barbaric” and a “kidnapping.”
Adding to the confusion was that the White House offered few details about what running an oil-producing nation of about 30 million people would entail. A U.S. official said Secretary of State Marco Rubio — who has spent his career criticizing Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Chavez — would take the leading administration role.
