Washington, Jan 4: Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested Sunday that the United States would not take a day-to-day role in governing Venezuela other than enforcing an existing “oil quarantine” on the country, a turnaround after President Donald Trump announced a day earlier that the US would be running Venezuela following its ouster of leader Nicolás Maduro.
Rubio’s statements on TV talk shows seemed designed to temper concerns about whether the assertive American action to achieve regime change might again produce a prolonged foreign intervention or failed attempt at nation-building.
They stood in contrast to Trump’s broad but vague claims that the US would at least temporarily “run” the oil-rich nation, comments that suggested some sort of governing structure under which Caracas would be controlled by Washington.
But Rubio offered a more nuanced take, saying the US would continue to enforce an oil quarantine that was already in place on sanctioned tankers before Maduro was removed from power early Saturday and using that leverage as a means to press policy changes in Venezuela.
“And so that’s the sort of control the president is pointing to when he says that,” Rubio said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “We continue with that quarantine, and we expect to see that there will be changes, 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 – “remains in place, and that’s a tremendous amount of leverage that will continue to be in place until we see changes that not just further the national interest of the United States, which is number one, but also that lead to a better future for the people of Venezuela,” he added.
It may be recalled that Trump’s vow to “run” Venezuela, repeated more than half a dozen times at a news conference in Florida on Saturday, sparked concerns among some Democrats. (AP)
