Hours after a dramatic military operation ousted Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro from power and removed him from the country Saturday, President Donald Trump said the United States would “run” Venezuela at least temporarily and tap its vast oil reserves to sell to other nations.
“We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition” to new leadership, Trump said at a news conference in Florida.
President Trump did not mention the details about how the U.S. will control Venezuela, adding that a group of officials would be named to run the affairs of the country. President Trump added that he didn’t want a new leader to take over in the wake of Maduro’s capture, who would result in the same situation that we had for the last long periods of years.
“We can’t take a chance that somebody else takes over Venezuela that doesn’t have the good of the Venezuelan people in mind,” he said.
U.S. operations on Saturday represented America’s most assertive action to achieve regime change in a country since the nation’s 2003 invasion of Iraq. The actions raise stark new questions about the legality of the U.S. moves under a broader campaign against the South American nation.
The middle-of-the-night seizure of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, who were transported on a U.S. warship and arrived in New York Saturday evening to face narco-terrorism conspiracy charges, is beyond even the most high-profile historical examples of aggressive American actions toward autocratic governments in Panama, Iraq and beyond, legal experts said. It came after a surprise U.S. incursion into the Venezuelan capital, rocked with overnight explosions early Saturday.
Read more: Oil, Drugs, and Force: Trump Warns Venezuela of Second US Strike
The Trump administration described the operation — and earlier deadly strikes on boats in the Caribbean Sea — as necessary to stem the flow of dangerous drugs.
“We are ready to stage a second and much larger attack if we need to do so. So we were prepared to do a second wave if we need to do so,” he added.
“We don’t mind saying it, but we’re going to make sure that that country is run properly. We’re not doing this in vain,” he added.
