“The US will run Venezuela until a safe, proper and judicious transition is secured," President Donald Trump said following US military strikes that resulted in the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
Trump said US oil companies would also help repair Venezuela’s “broken infrastructure” and begin generating revenue for the country.
US forces launched strikes on Venezuela early on Saturday (03 January), during which Maduro and his wife, First Lady Cilia Flores, were taken into custody and removed from the country. In response, Venezuela declared a state of national emergency and condemned what it described as military aggression. The country’s vice-president said Maduro remains Venezuela’s only legitimate leader.
Maduro and Flores were flown out of the capital, Caracas, by US helicopter in the early hours of Saturday and taken to the USS Iwo Jima at an undisclosed location in the Caribbean Sea. They were later transported to the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, before being transferred to another aircraft bound for New York State. From there, they were flown by helicopter to the Metropolitan Detention Centre in Brooklyn, New York City.
US Attorney General Pam Bondi said both Maduro and Flores had been indicted in the Southern District of New York. The charges include conspiracy to commit narco-terrorism and import cocaine, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess such weapons against the United States.
“They will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts,” Bondi said in a post on X.
Maduro has repeatedly denied allegations that he is linked to drug cartels. He has previously accused the US of using its so-called war on drugs as a pretext to remove him from power and gain access to Venezuela’s vast oil reserves.
Speaking at a news conference ahead of Maduro’s arrival in New York, Trump said Venezuela’s oil sector had collapsed after years of mismanagement.
“The oil business in Venezuela has been a bust for a long period of time,” he said. “We’re going to have our very large US oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken oil infrastructure and start making money for the country.”
According to the US Energy Information Administration, Venezuela holds approximately 303 billion barrels of crude oil, accounting for nearly 20 per cent of global reserves.
Trump did not provide details on how the US would administer Venezuela, but said a group would be responsible for overseeing the process.
“We’re going to be running it with a group, and we’re going to make sure it’s run properly,” he said.
When asked who within Venezuela would be involved, Trump said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had been in discussions with the country’s vice-president, Delcy Rodríguez.
Agencies