The administration of US President Donald Trump has reaffirmed its plans to dictate terms to Venezuela’s interim government following last weekend’s abduction of leader Nicolás Maduro.
On Wednesday, Press Secretary Caroline Levitt addressed the U.S. attack on Venezuela for the first time at a news conference, but faced a barrage of questions about the scope of President Trump’s role in governing the South American country.
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“We will continue to work closely with the interim authorities,” Levitt said in a statement. “Their decisions will continue to be determined by the United States.”
Vice President J.D. Vance also spoke during an appearance on Fox News, saying the United States would apply economic pressure to ensure compliance with President Trump’s priorities.
“People always ask, ‘How do we control Venezuela?’ and we’re actually seeing it unfold in real time,” Vance said.
“The way we control Venezuela is we control the purse strings, we control the energy resources, and we tell the regime, ‘We can sell you oil as long as it’s in America’s national interest.'”
But the question of who is in charge in Venezuela remains volatile.
Early Saturday, the Trump administration launched a military offensive in Venezuela to capture and remove President Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, describing their abduction as a law enforcement operation.
Mr. Maduro and Mr. Flores were then extradited to New York City, where they are charged with overseeing the transportation of “large quantities of cocaine into the United States.”
In the hours immediately following the attack, it was unclear whether the Trump administration would seek to oust Maduro’s remaining forces.
In a press conference from his home in Palm Beach, Florida, President Trump insisted that the country was under U.S. control.
“We’re going to run our country until we can have a safe, proper and wise transition of power,” Trump said from his Mar-a-Lago resort.
“We don’t want to be involved with someone else coming in. And we’ve been in the same situation all these years. So we’re going to run the country.”
Mr. Rodriguez claims that he does not have a foreign agent.
But since then, the Trump administration has signaled that it prioritizes stability in Venezuela over quickly installing new leadership. He declined to set a date for a new election.
“It is premature and premature to schedule elections in Venezuela at this time,” Levitt said Wednesday.
Earlier this week, Delcy Rodríguez, Maduro’s former vice president, was officially sworn in as Venezuela’s interim leader, and the Trump administration signaled its intention to work with her as it advances the extraction and sale of Venezuelan oil.
Still, the Rodriguez and Trump administrations describe their relationship in very different terms.
The Trump White House said Rodriguez would comply with the U.S. request. “If she doesn’t do the right thing, she’s going to pay a very high price, probably even bigger than Maduro,” Trump told The Atlantic on Sunday.
On Wednesday, Mr. Levitt echoed that position, saying the United States would use its influence over Venezuela’s decisions.
“It is clear that we now have maximum influence over the interim authorities in Venezuela,” she said.
President Trump had already announced in a post on Truth Social on Tuesday night that Venezuela would hand over 30 million to 50 million barrels of oil so the United States could sell the oil on the international market.
“The funds will be managed by me, as President of the United States, to ensure they are used to benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States,” Trump wrote.
Meanwhile, the Rodriguez government has repeatedly denied that the U.S. is puppeteering its decisions.
Rodriguez has at times taken a conciliatory stance toward the Trump administration, but has rejected the idea that foreign powers are leading the country.
“We are governing here with the people,” Rodriguez said in a speech broadcast on state television.
“The government of Venezuela is in charge of our country, and no one else. There is no foreign agent governing Venezuela.”
Is this a continuation of the policies of the Maduro regime?
Like Mr. Maduro before him, Mr. Rodríguez is part of a political movement founded by the late socialist president Hugo Chávez known as “Chavismo.”
As a “Chavista”, Rodriguez opposes U.S. imperialism in Latin America and denounced the recent abduction of Maduro, Chavez’s chosen successor, and his wife as an unjust “kidnapping” and a “brutal attack.”
Chavez also expanded state control over the country’s rich oil reserves during his presidency and is considered a key figure in the nationalization of Venezuela’s oil.
President Trump and his officials claim these efforts, including the expropriation of foreign oil assets in 2007, amount to theft against the United States.
Still, the Trump administration has said the Rodriguez administration has been cooperative so far.
It remains to be seen whether behind-the-scenes demands, including reports that Trump asked Rodriguez to sever ties with key allies including Russia, China, Cuba and Iran, will lead to public discord.
“The president has made it clear that this is a country in the Western Hemisphere that is close to the United States and that he has no intention of sending illegal drugs into the United States,” Levitt said.
“The president is fully pursuing a ‘peace through strength’ foreign policy.”
Meanwhile, human rights watchdogs say the Rodriguez government continues Maduro’s campaign to crush domestic opposition.
As part of the state of emergency, the interim president authorized Venezuelan law enforcement to detain people who supported Maduro’s abduction.
The nonprofit group Foro Penal reported on January 5 that Venezuelan authorities arrested 14 journalists following the US attack, and that all were eventually released. One person was deported.
Another human rights group, Kaleidoscopio Umano, said two elderly men from Merida state had also been arrested for allegedly firing guns into the air to celebrate Maduro’s capture.
The international community has long condemned human rights violations in Venezuela. But the United States has also faced widespread criticism over the attack to remove Maduro, which has been condemned as a violation of sovereignty.
On Wednesday, a group of United Nations experts warned that President Trump’s actions constituted a “crime of international aggression.”
“These actions constitute grave, clear and intentional violations of the most fundamental principles of international law, set a dangerous precedent and risk destabilizing the entire region and the world,” they wrote.
