Image source, Reuters
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At a press conference at his Mar-A-Lago residence in Florida, United States President Donald Trump assured that his country will “govern” Venezuela until a “safe transition” is completed.
The US president gave his statements after the early Saturday attack against the capital of Venezuela and after announcing that US forces had captured and taken out of the country the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores.
The US president assured his country’s involvement in Venezuela until “we can make a safe, appropriate and judicious transition.”
Trump described the US military operation that resulted in the capture of Maduro and Flores as “extraordinary.”
In a joint press conference with the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, and the Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, Trump said that there had been no deaths among the US troops who participated in the operation and warned that the United States is “ready” to carry out a “much larger” second attack in Venezuela if necessary.
The president did not rule out the deployment of US troops to Venezuelan territory. “We’re not afraid to have troops on the ground,” he said, boasting that, in fact, “we had boots on the ground last night at the highest level.”
He also assured that the Vice President of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, recently held conversations with the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio.
“We are going to do what you need,” Rodríguez reportedly declared, according to Trump.
Regarding the transition of power after Maduro’s capture, the president stated: “Who is going to take charge? For now there is no one, there is a vice president who was appointed by Maduro; she was sworn in as president recently,” in reference to Delcy Rodríguez.
This contrasts with the statements this Saturday by Rodríguez herself, who denounced the US attacks and the capture of Maduro.
Trump added that Washington will make sure that “the country is run properly” and about who the people, Venezuelan or not, will be in charge, he said: “We are appointing people right now” and they will announce who those people are.
When asked about the role that opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado can play from now on, Trump seemed to rule out assuming power in the country.
She said she had not spoken with Machado and that it would be “very hard” for her to become Venezuela’s leader because “she does not have the support or respect within the country.”
The importance of oil
Trump insisted on the thesis that his government has been putting forward for some time that Maduro heads a criminal network known as the Cartel of the Suns dedicated to flooding the United States with cocaine, for which, now that he has been captured, he will be formally accused before a US court.
The president attached great importance to Venezuelan oil resources.
He said that American companies will solve the problems of Venezuela’s oil infrastructure and “start making money for the country.”
In recent weeks, Trump opened a new line of criticism of Chavista Venezuela, which he accused of “stealing” oil from the United States. Senior officials in his government said the Venezuelan oil industry was created thanks to American efforts.
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