US President Donald Trump made a series of remarks following US action in Venezuela’s capital, declaring that Washington was now effectively “in charge” and calling for unrestricted access to the country’s
oil sector. Speaking about the operation, Trump said one of the helicopters involved was “hit pretty badly,” but added that “we got everything back, and nobody was killed.”
When asked who was in control after the developments in Venezuela, Trump said, “Don’t ask me who’s in charge because I’ll give you an answer and it’ll be very controversial,” before adding, “It means we’re in charge.”
He described Venezuela as “a dead country right now,” saying it was an example of what the US would have become had he lost the election. “We would have been a dead country, like Venezuela on steroids,” he said.
Trump also focused heavily on Venezuela’s oil sector, saying the country needs massive investment to revive its infrastructure. “We need big investments from the oil companies to bring back the infrastructure. The oil companies are ready to go and rebuild the infrastructure,” he said, adding that the US had originally built much of it.
“We built it to start off with many years ago. They took it away. You can’t do that. You can’t do that with me,” he said. Trump blamed previous leaders for allowing the situation to deteriorate, calling Venezuela “a mess” that has been “horribly run,” with oil production now “flowing at a very low level.”
The comments come amid efforts by the Trump administration to clarify the scope of US involvement in Venezuela following the capture of Nicolás Maduro. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington does not intend to take on a day-to-day governing role, stressing that US involvement would largely be limited to enforcing an existing “oil quarantine.”
Rubio’s remarks appeared aimed at calming concerns that Trump’s comments about “running” Venezuela signalled a prolonged occupation or nation-building effort in the oil-rich country.
