(AFP) – After the United States seized Venezuela’s leader, who will run the country? According to President Donald Trump, the answer is: his own administration, the South American country’s vice president, and not Venezuela’s democratic opposition.
Trump also made clear that US companies would profit from the oil of Venezuela, which has the world’s largest proven reserves, after US forces attacked the capital Caracas and seized leftist leader Nicolas Maduro in the dead of night. Trump, who for years condemned what he called failed US nation-building, said bluntly that the United States will manage Venezuela, a country of nearly 30 million people — at least temporarily.
“We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,” Trump told a news conference at his Florida estate. How Trump would run the country — where the US embassy is shuttered and no US troops are known to be on the ground — remains unclear. Trump said that the United States was “designating various people” including an unnamed “group.” But he added that for a “period of time,” Venezuela will be led by “the people that are standing right behind me” — Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US military leaders.
Rubio, a sworn foe of Latin America’s leftists, for months has highlighted how not just the United States but most Western countries saw Maduro as illegitimate, following two elections that observers said were riddled with irregularities. But hours after Maduro was grabbed, Trump brushed aside the prospects of Maria Corina Machado, the opposition leader who won last year’s Nobel Peace Prize and had been hailed by Western leaders as representing Venezuelans, as a successor.
“I think it would be very tough for her to be the leader,” Trump said. “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,” Trump said.
– Working with VP – Trump said that the United States had not been in touch with Machado, who had hailed the capture of Maduro as the “hour of freedom.” Instead, Trump said Rubio spoke by telephone to the vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, a stalwart of the leftist movement of Maduro and his late predecessor Hugo Chavez.
“She’s essentially willing to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again. Very simple,” Trump said. Rodriguez, however, did not stick to Trump’s script in an address to the nation, saying Maduro was the only president and demanding his return. Most US allies, who had once lined up to oppose Maduro, quickly distanced themselves from Trump.
French President Emmanuel Macron, while hailing the end of “Maduro’s dictatorship,” said the will of Venezuelans was represented by Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, the opposition figure and Machado ally seen by the international community as the legitimate winner of 2024 elections. Kevin Whitaker, a veteran former US diplomat dealing with Latin America including Venezuela, said he was “extremely surprised” to hear Trump undercut Machado.
“This seems to be a case where the Trump administration, at least by appearance at this point, is making decisions about the democratic future of Venezuela without referring back to the democratic result” of the election, said Whitaker, now at the Atlantic Council think tank.
– More of same for Venezuelans? – Rodriguez constitutionally would need to call a new election. But analysts said it remains to be seen if Rodriguez, like Maduro, would actually be willing to hand over power. Rodriguez’s elevation may mean better ties with the United States “but I’m not sure it will be a significant change for Venezuelans,” said Iria Puyosa, a Venezuelan scholar also at the Atlantic Council.
Maduro and Chavez for years thumbed their nose at the United States, denouncing US imperialism as they pursued a socialist economy, which had fallen into shambles and prompted the flight of millions of people. Trump’s Democratic rivals voiced outrage at the open involvement of oil companies, seeing it as a throwback to imperialism at its most egregious.
“The United States should not be running other countries for any reason,” said Senator Brian Schatz, a Democrat. “We should have learned by now not to get involved in endless wars and regime change missions that carry catastrophic consequences for Americans.”
– Shaun TANDON
© 2024 AFP
