Donald Trump has threatened Venezuela's acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, with paying a price 'bigger than Maduro' if she doesn't bend the knee to US interests, after carrying out a historic military intervention over the weekend.
The former vice president will be sworn in today (January 5) in after the country's Supreme Court agreed to her filling the power vacuum left as President Nicolás Maduro and his wife were abducted by Delta Force operatives and taken to New York to stand trial on drugs and weapons charges.
At a press conference after the attack on Venezuela, Trump announced that the US would be 'running' Venezuela, but did not elaborate on how that control would work.
With Maduro's staunchest ally succeeding her boss a day later, she made it clear that this control would be exerted through military might.
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Trump told The Atlantic that Rodríguez could pay 'a very big price' if she does not 'do what's right' and cooperate with his demands to hand over Venezuela's nationalized oil industry to American business interests, after they were expropriated over 20 years ago.
But there appears to be little sign from acting President Rodríguez of bending the knee, with the 56-year-old socialist demanding the return of Maduro, who she still views as the country's 'only' leader.
Maduro remains in custody in New York, where he and his wife face four charges relating to drugs. They are: 'narco-terrorism' conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices.
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The country's acting president has also said that Venezuela refuses to be 'a colony of an empire', while President Trump has called the attack part of his new 'Donroe Doctrine'. A reference to the 19th century Monroe Doctrine, which placed the entire American continent into the US' sphere of influence.
In her first cabinet meeting, Rodríguez rejected this American paternalism, saying: “We invite the US government to collaborate with us on an agenda of co-operation orientated towards shared development within the framework of international law.”
This appears to be a significant change from the bullish position presented during Saturday's press conference, where both Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio asserted that the Venezuelan government had been brought to heel.
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As for Rodríguez, Trump said: “She’s essentially willing to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again.”
But the language coming from Caracas has been anything but cordial, with Rodríguez slamming the attack as 'an atrocity that violates international law' while pledging the nation's armed forces as 'ready to defend our natural resources', after Trump claimed Venezuela's oil.
Rubio told ABC on Sunday that public statements may differ from private agreements, saying: “There’s a lot of different reasons why people go on TV and say certain things in these countries, especially 15 hours or 12 hours after the person who used to be in charge of the regime is now in handcuffs and on his way to New York.”
It is not yet clear if the US' military intervention in Venezuelan politics is over with the arrest of Maduro, with Trump appearing to reserve the right to take further action when asked by reporters on Saturday.
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He refused to rule out deploying boots on the ground in the wake of the attack and even left the door open to rebuilding Venezuela should it come to occupation. Trump said this was 'not a bad thing in Venezuela’s case'.
Topics: Donald Trump, Politics, World News
William Morgan