Palm Beach (United States) (AFP) – In a wide-ranging press conference on Saturday, US President Donald Trump explained the operation to extract Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro from Caracas, said Washington would temporarily “run” the country, and warned neighboring Colombia to be wary.
Here are the highlights of the press conference, in Trump’s own words:
– **On what comes next for Venezuela**
“We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition. The people that are standing right behind me, we’re going to be running it. We’re going to be bringing it back.” (Behind him were Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, senior aide Stephen Miller, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and top US General Dan Caine)
– **On working with Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez**
“She’s essentially willing to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again, very simple.”
– **On Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado**
“I think it would be very tough for her to be the leader. She doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country. She’s a very nice woman, but she doesn’t have the respect.”
– **On Venezuela’s oil industry**
“We’re going to have our very large United States oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure, and start making money for the country. Very importantly, the embargo on all Venezuelan oil remains in full effect. The American armada remains poised in position, and the United States retains all military options until United States demands have been fully met and fully satisfied.”
– **On further US military action in Venezuela**
“We are ready to stage a second and much larger attack if we need to do so. We’re not afraid of boots on the ground if we have to have. We had boots on the ground last night at a very high level, actually.”
– **On wider US plans in Latin America**
“Under our new national security strategy, American dominance in the Western Hemisphere will never be questioned again. We want to surround ourselves with good neighbors. We want to surround ourselves with stability. We want to surround ourselves with energy. We have tremendous energy in that country. It’s very important that we protect it. We need that for ourselves.”
– **On Colombian President Gustavo Petro**
“He’s making cocaine and they’re sending it into the United States, so he does have to watch his ass.”
© 2024 AFP
