The US administration is prepared to use force to extract “maximum cooperation“ from the Venezuelan leadership, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said at a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
“We are prepared to use force to obtain maximum cooperation if other methods prove ineffective. We hope that this will not be necessary, but we will never abandon our duty to the American people and our mission in this hemisphere“, he said (quoted by Bloomberg).
Rubio noted that Venezuela's interim leader, Delcy Rodriguez, has promised to open the country's energy sector to American companies, provide preferential access to production and use oil revenues to buy American goods.
Two days ago Rodriguez said Venezuela had "stopped taking orders from Washington" on domestic policy. She stressed that the only way to defend the country's sovereignty was through national unity. Rodriguez added that differences with the United States would be resolved through "Bolivarian diplomacy." Trump later said he was unaware of such remarks from Venezuela's interim leader but that they were "on good terms." Rodriguez also revealed last week that the United States had threatened to kill her and other senior Venezuelan officials if they refused to cooperate. She said the threats and blackmail continued. Rodriguez was appointed acting president of Venezuela following a U.S. operation on January 3, in which U.S. troops captured and deported Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, to the United States. Trump said that Washington will govern Venezuela until a transition of power takes place.
Trump stressed that US troops will not be deployed in Venezuela while Rodriguez “does what we want“. According to Bloomberg, the US president has approved her as interim leader because of her experience in developing the oil sector.
Politico reported that the US expects Maduro's successor to take a number of “pro-American steps“, including measures to curb drug trafficking, expel Iranian, Cuban and other “hostile agents“ from Venezuela and cut off oil supplies to US opponents. In addition, according to the publication, Washington hopes that Rodriguez will facilitate the holding of free elections and eventually resign.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet with Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado in Wednesday.
According to Rubio's schedule, the meeting will be held at the US State Department. The topic has not been specified. The meeting will be closed to journalists and no official filming is planned in advance.
On January 15, US President Donald Trump met with Machado. According to the White House, the purpose of the meeting was to discuss the "real state of affairs" in Venezuela. On January 22, Trump announced that he had spoken with Machado by phone. The American leader also noted that he believes that the Venezuelan President's envoy, Delcy Rodriguez, "leads the country with confidence."