WASHINGTON/CARACAS/BRUSSELS/PYONGYANG — US President Donald Trump on Sunday threatened that Venezuelan acting president Delcy Rodríguez could “pay a very big price, probably bigger than” that of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, if she continued to refuse cooperation with the United States.
“If she doesn’t do what’s right, she is going to pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro,” Trump said in a phone interview with The Atlantic. Maduro was taken by US force away from his country on Saturday and is now in custody in New York to stand trial on alleged drug charges.
Trump made clear that he would not stand what he described as Rodríguez’s defiant rejection of the armed US intervention, according to the magazine.
At least 80 Venezuelan people were killed during US airstrikes, a New York Times report said Sunday, citing Venezuelan officials.
Venezuela’s Supreme Court of Justice ordered late Saturday that Rodríguez assume the role of acting president of the country in the absence of Maduro.
The US raid on Venezuela has drawn worldwide condemnation and concern.
Rubio says Trump will retain ‘optionality’
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sunday that Trump will keep all options around on how to “run” Venezuela, and will not rule out the US military presence in the country,
“First of all, the president always retains optionality on anything and on all these matters,” Rubio said on CBS in an interview, adding that the US side will assess if Venezuela’s interim leadership can “make right decisions.”
Trump said Saturday the United States will “run” the oil-rich South American nation until a transition that must meet US demands, after the US military took by force Maduro, who is now in custody in New York.
Venezuela transition
Rubio said the United States will judge Venezuelan acting president Rodríguez on what she does moving forward as acting president.
“We expect to see more compliance and cooperation than we were previously receiving,” said Rubio.
“We’re going to make assessment … if they don’t make the right decisions, the United States will retain multiple levers of leverage to ensure that our interests are protected, and that includes the oil quarantine that’s in place, among other things,” said Rubio.
The top US diplomat said, “Our objectives when it comes to how Venezuela impacts the national interest of the United States have not changed, and we want those addressed. We want drug trafficking to stop. We want no more gang members to come our way.”
Rubio did not provide a timeline for Venezuela’s transition. Instead, he stressed that the expectation of a quick turnaround election in the country is “absurd” given that Venezuela has had “this system of Chavismo in place for 15 or 16 years.”
Following the US raid, Rodríguez on Saturday demanded that the United States release Maduro and his wife, noting that Venezuela’s territorial integrity was “savagely attacked” as the US rocked Caracas and other parts of the country.
US military move
Trump said on Saturday that the US is “not afraid of boots on the ground” in Venezuela.
“We don’t have US forces on the ground,” Rubio said, refusing to rule out the US military presence in Venezuela in the future.
“He (Trump) does not feel like he is going to publicly rule out options that are available for the United States, even though (troops on the ground is) not what you’re seeing right now,” Rubio said.
“What you’re seeing right now is an oil quarantine that allows us to exert tremendous leverage over what happens next,” he said.
When asked whether he envisions US boots on the ground while the US essentially runs the Venezuelan government in an interim period, Trump said: “Well, no, we’re going to have a presence in Venezuela as it pertains to oil.”
The US president used the word “oil” more than 20 times at the Saturday press conference hours after the raid on Venezuela.
Rubio also said on NBC News that the Trump administration will continue striking alleged drug boats and seizing oil tankers linked to Venezuela.
“We will continue to target drug boats if they try to run towards the United States,” Rubio said on NBC News, “We will continue to seize the boats that are sanctioned with court orders.”
“We will continue to do that, and potentially other things, until the things we need to see addressed are addressed,” he went ahead.
For months, the United States has deployed large-scale air and naval forces in Caribbean waters near Venezuela as part of its so-called campaign against narco-terrorism. The Pentagon has sunk more than 30 alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific since September, claiming about 110 lives.
‘Cowardly kidnapping’
Venezuela’s Bolivarian National Armed Forces on Sunday strongly condemned the “cowardly kidnapping” of Maduro by the United States.
In a statement read out on national radio and television, Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez also denounced that US troops sent to Venezuela early Saturday murdered “in cold blood” a large part of Maduro’s security detail, soldiers and innocent civilians.
Venezuela’s military expressed its full support for the state of external emergency declared by the Venezuelan government following the US strikes on several locations within Venezuela.
“Our institution will continue to employ all its available capabilities for military defense, the maintenance of internal order, and the preservation of peace,” the armed forces statement said.
Padrino said the armed forces activated “the Full Operational Readiness Plan throughout the entire national territory and in perfect civilian-military-police coordination.”
This action aims to “integrate the elements of National Power in the mission to confront imperial aggression, forming a single combat force to ensure the freedom, independence, and sovereignty of the Nation,” the military said.
EU urges calm, restraint
The European Union (EU) on Sunday urged all parties to show “calm and restraint” to prevent further escalation and to seek a peaceful solution to the crisis in Venezuela, following the US military action against Venezuela.
In a statement issued by the EU’s High Representative, the bloc said the principles of international law and the UN Charter “must be upheld” under all circumstances, adding that members of the UN Security Council have a particular responsibility to defend those principles.
The EU said in the statement that it supports a Venezuelan-led, sovereign transition to democracy, stressing that “the right of the Venezuelan people to determine their future must be respected.”
While acknowledging the priority of combating transnational organized crime and drug trafficking, the EU stressed that these challenges must be addressed through sustained cooperation “in full respect of international law” and the principles of territorial integrity and sovereignty.
The bloc said it was in close contact with the United States and with regional and international partners to support dialogue among all parties aimed at a negotiated, democratic, inclusive and peaceful solution led by Venezuelans.
The statement was backed by 26 EU member states, all except Hungary, according to the text released by the European External Action Service.
DPRK slams US ‘hegemony-seeking act’
Meanwhile, the Foreign Ministry of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Sunday condemned the US latest actions against Venezuela for violating the country’s sovereignty, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.
“The DPRK Foreign Ministry strongly denounces the US hegemony-seeking act committed in Venezuela as the most serious form of encroachment of sovereignty and as a wanton violation of the UN Charter and international laws,” a ministry spokesperson was quoted by the KCNA as saying.
The spokesperson said the current situation stems from US high-handed actions, which have further destabilized an already fragile regional situation. The latest US moves against the Latin American country were cited as “another example that clearly confirms once again the rogue and brutal nature of the United States.”