US will rule Venezuela and extract its oil for years, - Trump
US President Donald Trump has stated that the United States will control Venezuela for years and extract its vast oil reserves.
He said this in an interview with The New York Times, according to Censor.NET.
According to Trump, Venezuela's interim government, which was previously loyal to the now-imprisoned dictator Nicolas Maduro, is currently providing Washington with "everything we consider necessary."
"We will rebuild it in a very profitable way. We will use oil, and we will take oil. We will lower oil prices, and we will give Venezuela the money it desperately needs," the US president said.
His words came after statements by Trump administration officials that the US would take control of Venezuelan oil for an indefinite period. This is part of a three-stage plan developed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
When asked by reporters how long the US would actually rule Venezuela—a few months, a year, or more—Trump replied, "I would say much longer."
He also did not explain why he recognized Maduro's vice president Delcy Rodríguez as the leader of Venezuela, rather than opposition leader María Corina Machado, whose party won the 2024 elections and received the Nobel Peace Prize. At the same time, Trump noted that Marco Rubio "talks to her all the time."
What preceded it?
- On the morning of January 3, powerful explosions rocked the Venezuelan capital of Caracas.
- CBS News reporter Jennifer Jacobs wrote on Twitter: "President Trump has ordered strikes on targets inside Venezuela, including military facilities, US officials said, as the administration stepped up its campaign against President Nicolas Maduro's regime early Saturday."
- Later, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the US military operation in Venezuela had been completed. The country's leader, Nicolas Maduro, has been detained and is currently under the control of the US authorities.
- It later became known that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cecilia Flores would face a series of charges and stand trial in New York.
- Venezuela sent a request to the UN Security Council Secretariat for an urgent meeting of the Security Council in connection with the United States' attacks on the country.
