US Control Of Venezuela Could Last For Years, Trump Says
The White House issued two interesting, and somewhat perplexing new statements on Venezuela amid the post-Maduro 'transition'.
First, the White House said Wednesday that the US would be "dictating" future decisions made by the Venezuelan government - which is now officially headed up by Acting President Delcy Rodriguez, who was Maduro's VP since 2018, and is seen as a 'loyalist' to his political movement and system.
"We’re continuing to be in close coordination with the interim authorities," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters in the latest press briefing.
Leavitt added that "their decisions are going to continue to be dictated by the United States of America." As expected, officials in Caracas are pushing back.
"The government of Venezuela is in charge in our country, and no one else. There is no foreign agent governing Venezuela," Rodriguez said, and she went to call on Washington to release Maduro, who has declared to a New York federal court that he is a political "prisoner".
As for the future of Venezuelan oil, Vice President JD Vance said the US has leverage over Venezuela through control of where it is permitted to sell its oil.
"We control the energy resources, and we tell the regime, you’re allowed to sell the oil so long as you serve America’s national interest, you’re not allowed to sell it if you can’t serve America’s national interest," Vance told FOX this week.
The other interesting and highly revealing statement concerns questions of timeline. President Trump has newly said that oversight of Venezuela could last "years".
According to the NY Times, which interviewed Trump on his plans for Venezuela:
President Trump said on Wednesday evening that he expected the United States would be running Venezuela and extracting oil from its huge reserves for years, and insisted that the interim government of the country — all former loyalists to the now-imprisoned Nicolás Maduro — is “giving us everything that we feel is necessary.”
"Only time will tell," he said, when asked how long the administration will demand direct oversight of the South American nation, with the hovering threat of American military action from an armada just off shore.
“We will rebuild it in a very profitable way,” Mr. Trump said during a nearly two-hour interview. “We’re going to be using oil, and we’re going to be taking oil. We’re getting oil prices down, and we’re going to be giving money to Venezuela, which they desperately need.”
The publication reviews further, "Mr. Trump’s remarks came hours after administration officials said the United States plans to effectively assume control of selling Venezuela’s oil indefinitely, part of a three-phase plan that Secretary of State Marco Rubio outlined for members of Congress."
The Times adds: "While Republican lawmakers have been largely supportive of the administration’s actions, Democrats on Wednesday reiterated their warnings that the United States was headed toward a protracted international intervention without clear legal authority."
Indeed some degree of blowback or internal turmoil is expected, given Venezuela's long fractured factions including anti-Chavista armed groups, also which operate out of neighboring Colombia.