Washington– Washington (AFP) – Secretary of State Marco Rubio The United States on Wednesday plans to warn that the Trump administration is prepared to take new military action against Venezuela if the country’s interim leadership deviates from American expectations.
In testimony prepared for a hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Rubio said that the United States is not at war with Venezuela and that it is Interim leaders cooperateBut he points out that the Trump administration does not rule out using additional force if necessary after the raid on Iraq Former President Nicolas Maduro arrested Early this month.
“We are prepared to use force to ensure maximum cooperation if other methods fail,” Rubio will say, according to his prepared opening statement released by the State Department on Tuesday. “We hope this will not be necessary, but we will never be ashamed of our duty to the American people and our mission in this hemisphere.”
As he is often asked to do, Rubio, a former Florida state senator, aims to sell one of them President Donald Trump’s most controversial priorities To his former colleagues in Congress. With the administration’s foreign policy It rotates between the Western Hemisphere and Europe In the Middle East, Rubio may also be called for calm The alert that appeared in his party Recently about efforts like Trump’s demand to annex Greenland.
In the session focused on Venezuela, Rubio will defend Trump’s decisions to fire Maduro to face drug trafficking charges in the United States. Continue deadly military strikes On board boats suspected of drug smuggling Seizure of sanctioned tankers It carries Venezuelan oil, according to prepared statements. He will again reject claims that Trump is violating the Constitution by taking such actions.
He will say, according to prepared statements: “There is no war against Venezuela, and we did not occupy a country.” “There are no US troops on the ground. This was an operation to assist law enforcement.”
Congressional Democrats have condemned Trump’s moves as exceeding the authority of the executive branch, while most — but not all — Republicans supported them As a legitimate exercise of presidential power.
the The House narrowly defeated the War Powers Act A decision that would have directed Trump to withdraw US forces from Venezuela. As Rubio will argue, the administration says there are no US troops on the ground in the South American country despite a large military buildup in the region.
Democrats said the decision was necessary after the US raid to arrest Maduro and because Trump announced plans to control the country’s oil industry for years to come.
Retaliation has begun in the courts as well, where the families of two Trinidadians killed in a Trump administration boat raid have filed a lawsuit against them. It is believed to be the first case of unlawful killing arising from the campaign. Thirty strikes were carried out on boats in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean At least 126 people were killed Since September.
While US officials continue to pressure those the Trump administration describes as “drug traffickers” without providing evidence, they are also working to normalize relations with the acting Venezuelan president. Delcy Rodriguez. However, Rubio will make clear in his testimony that she has no choice but to comply with Trump’s demands.
“Rodriguez is well aware of Maduro’s fate; we believe her self-interest is consistent with achieving our main goals,” Rubio will say, noting that they include opening Venezuela’s energy sector to US companies, providing preferential access to production, using oil revenues to buy US goods, and ending subsidized oil exports to Cuba.
Rodriguez, who previously served as Maduro’s vice president, said Tuesday that her government and the Trump administration “have established respectful and courteous channels of communication.” During televised remarks, Rodriguez said she was working with Trump and Rubio to develop an “agenda of action.”
So far, she has appeared to acquiesce to Trump’s demands Release of imprisoned prisoners By the government of Maduro and his predecessor, the late Hugo Chavez. The head of a Venezuelan human rights group said on Monday that 266 political prisoners had been released since January 8.
Trump praised the releases, saying on social media that he “would like to thank the leadership of Venezuela for agreeing to this powerful humanitarian gesture!”
In a major step to restore diplomatic relations between the two countries, the State Department notified Congress this week that it intends to begin sending additional diplomatic and support personnel to Caracas to prepare for the possible reopening of the US Embassy there.
This was the first official notification of the administration’s intention to reopen the embassy, which was closed in 2019. However, fully normalizing relations would require the United States to rescind its decision to recognize the Venezuelan parliament elected in 2015 as the country’s legitimate government.
Rubio also plans to meet with Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado later Wednesday at the State Department.
Machado went into hiding after Maduro was declared the winner of the 2024 presidential election despite credible evidence to the contrary. She reappeared in December to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in Norway. After Maduro was ousted, she came to Washington. In a meeting with Trump, she presented him with a Peace Prize medal, an unusual gesture given that Trump had effectively sidelined her.
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Associated Press writer Regina Garcia Cano in Caracas, Venezuela, contributed to this report.