U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks as U.S. President Donald Trump stands behind him throughout a press convention following a U.S. strike on Venezuela the place President Nicolas Maduro and his spouse, Cilia Flores, have been captured, from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago membership in Palm Seaside, Florida, U.S., January 3, 2026.
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REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged Sunday that america wouldn’t take a day-to-day position in governing Venezuela aside from imposing an present “oil quarantine” on the nation, a turnaround after President Donald Trump introduced a day earlier that the US could be working Venezuela following its ouster of chief Nicolás Maduro.
Rubio’s statements on TV speak reveals appeared designed to mood issues about whether or not the assertive American motion to realize regime change may once more produce a protracted international intervention or failed try at nation-building.
They stood in distinction to Trump’s broad however imprecise claims that the US would not less than quickly “run” the oil-rich nation, feedback that urged some form of governing construction beneath which Caracas could be managed by Washington.
However Rubio provided a extra nuanced take, saying the US would proceed to implement an oil quarantine that was already in place on sanctioned tankers earlier than Maduro was faraway from energy early Saturday and utilizing that leverage as a method to press coverage modifications in Venezuela.
“And so that is the form of management the president is pointing to when he says that,” Rubio mentioned on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “We proceed with that quarantine, and we count on to see that there shall be modifications, not simply in the way in which the oil business is run for the good thing about the individuals, but in addition in order that they cease the drug trafficking.”
The blockade on sanctioned oil tankers — a few of which have been seized by the US — “stays in place, and that is an incredible quantity of leverage that may proceed to be in place till we see modifications that not simply additional the nationwide curiosity of america, which is primary, but in addition that result in a greater future for the individuals of Venezuela,” he added.
Trump repeated vow US would ‘run’ Venezuela
Trump’s vow to “run” Venezuela, repeated greater than half a dozen instances at a information convention in Florida on Saturday, sparked issues amongst some Democrats.
It additionally drew unease from components of his personal Republican coalition, together with an “America First” base that’s against international interventions, and in addition from observers who recalled previous nation-building efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Rubio dismissed such criticism, saying that Trump’s intent had been misunderstood by a “international coverage institution” that was fixated on the Center East.
“The entire international coverage equipment thinks every part is Libya, every part is Iraq, every part is Afghanistan,” Rubio mentioned. “This isn’t the Center East. And our mission right here could be very completely different. That is the Western Hemisphere.”
Rubio additionally urged that the US would give Maduro’s subordinates who are actually in cost time to control, saying, “We will choose every part by what they do, and we’ll see what they do.” And although he didn’t rule out a US navy presence in Venezuela, Rubio mentioned the present US “pressure posture” was able to stopping drug boats and sanctioned tankers.
A day earlier, Trump instructed reporters, “We will run the nation till such time as we are able to do a secure, correct and considered transition.” He later pointed to his nationwide safety crew with him, together with Rubio and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, and mentioned it will be completed for a time frame by “the individuals which are standing proper behind me. We’re gonna be working it we’re gonna be bringing it again.” The White Home declined to remark past what Trump mentioned Saturday.
Maduro’s arrival
Maduro landed late Saturday afternoon at a small airport in New York Metropolis’s northern suburbs following the middle-of-the-night operation that extracted him and his spouse, Cilia Flores, from their house in a navy base within the capital, Caracas — an act that Maduro’s authorities referred to as “imperialist.” The couple faces US fees of collaborating in a narco-terrorism conspiracy.
The dramatic seizure of the Maduros capped an intensive Trump administration stress marketing campaign on Venezuela’s autocratic chief and months of secret planning, leading to essentially the most assertive American motion to realize regime change because the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Authorized specialists raised questions in regards to the lawfulness of the operation, which was completed with out congressional approval.
Venezuela’s vice chairman, Delcy Rodriguez, in the meantime, demanded that the US free Maduro and referred to as him the nation’s rightful chief as her nation’s excessive courtroom named her interim president.
After arriving on the airport, Maduro was flown by helicopter to Manhattan, the place a convoy of regulation enforcement autos, together with an armoured automobile, was ready to whisk him to a close-by US Drug Enforcement Administration workplace. A video posted on social media by a White Home account confirmed Maduro, smiling, as he was escorted by that workplace by two DEA brokers greedy his arms.
He is because of make his first look Monday in Manhattan’s federal courtroom.
Maduro and different Venezuelan officers have been indicted in 2020 on narco-terrorism conspiracy fees, and the Justice Division launched a brand new indictment Saturday of Maduro and his spouse that painted his administration as a “corrupt, illegitimate authorities” fuelled by a drug-trafficking operation that flooded the US with cocaine. The US authorities doesn’t recognise Maduro because the nation’s chief.
The Trump administration spent months build up American forces within the area and finishing up assaults on boats within the Caribbean Sea and jap Pacific Ocean for allegedly ferrying medication. Final week, the CIA was behind a drone strike at a docking space believed to have been utilized by Venezuelan drug cartels — the primary identified direct operation on Venezuelan soil because the US marketing campaign started in September.
Quiet falls in Venezuela after US operation
Venezuela’s capital remained unusually quiet Sunday with few autos shifting round and comfort shops, gasoline stations and different companies closed. A street sometimes full of runners, cyclists and different health fans on Sundays solely had a handful of individuals understanding the day after Maduro was deposed.
The presidential palace was guarded by armed civilians and members of the navy. At a close-by plaza, solely a road sweeper and a soldier stood, and throughout the road, a church remained shut for a second day in a row.
Caracas resident David Leal arrived to the lot the place he parks autos for a residing solely to rapidly realise that he would seemingly not see any shoppers for a second day.
“Individuals are nonetheless shaken,” mentioned Leal, 77.
Revealed on January 4, 2026
