US President Donald Trump warns the Venezuelan authorities that Washington is preparing to dictate their policy, the British newspaper "Financial Times" wrote in the headline, BTA reported.
Trump issued a sharp warning to Delcy Rodriguez, the interim president of Venezuela, that she must fulfill US demands after Washington signaled its intention to dictate Caracas' policy after the capture of Nicolas Maduro, instead of directly governing the country.
"If they don't behave properly, we will strike a second blow", Trump said last night on his way back from Florida. He added that Rodriguez was "cooperating" but would "face a fate probably worse than Maduro" if he disobeyed Washington.
Trump's comments followed a day of confusion about US intentions regarding Venezuela following the operation that led to Maduro's capture.
In a series of television interviews yesterday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested that Washington did not intend to occupy or rule Venezuela but would dictate policy to Caracas. He added that people had "focused" on Trump's comment on Saturday that the US would "run" the country.
"It's not about running – "It's about controlling the policy on this issue," Rubio said.
When asked what he wanted from Rodriguez, who was granted interim presidential powers by Venezuela's Supreme Court, Trump told reporters: "We need full access. We need access to the oil and other resources in their country that will allow us to rebuild it."
Trump also repeated his claim that the United States would "control the situation" in Venezuela, saying that Washington already "controls the situation" in the country. "We're going to manage it, we're going to fix it," he said.
Trump threatened military action against Colombia and said the United States "controls the situation" in Venezuela, headlines another British publication - the "Guardian".
Trump said that Colombia is run by a "sick man" and accused Colombian President Gustavo Petro of producing and selling cocaine to the United States, adding: "But he won't be doing it for very long".
According to an audio recording of Trump's conversation with the media aboard "Air Force One" last night, when a journalist asked him if that meant there would be a US operation in Colombia, the president replied: "Sounds good to me".
Relations between the US and Colombia have been strained for months amid Washington's increased military presence in the Caribbean, and Petro is one of Trump's most vocal critics.
The Colombian leader has said his government is seizing unprecedented amounts of cocaine and last month invited Trump to visit the country to see the government's efforts to destroy drug labs.
Over the weekend, Petro called US actions in Venezuela "an encroachment on sovereignty" of Latin America, which will lead to a humanitarian crisis, notes "The Guardian".
Petro's criticism of the US operation against Venezuela and their actions against small boats in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean angered Trump, who on Saturday said that the Colombian leader should "pay attention to the picture".
The Colombian president calls on Donald Trump to stop slandering him, the French newspaper "Le Monde" wrote in a headline.
Gustavo Petro yesterday rejected threats from his American counterpart Donald Trump, who accused him without evidence of being a drug trafficker.
"My name does not appear in the court files for drug trafficking. "Stop slandering me, Mr. Trump," the Colombian president addressed his American counterpart on the social network "Ex".
The Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs described the threats of the American president as "unacceptable interference" and called for "respect".
Gustavo Petro, who sharply criticized the Trump government's military actions in the region, accuses the United States of detaining Nicolas Maduro "without legal basis", notes "Le Monde".
The US plan to "control the situation" in Venezuela is shrouded in ambiguity, the American newspaper "Washington Post" states in the title of an analytical article.
It is not clear how the US will cope with this complex diplomatic task on a practical level. Trump said on Saturday that a task force of senior advisers is deeply engaged in planning for Venezuela's future, but even such steps seem vague, the American publication notes.
Marco Rubio is personally focused on the process, but his broad powers as secretary of state and national security adviser mean he is unlikely to have time to direct day-to-day policy, several U.S. officials said.
Having dismantled much of the U.S. foreign policy establishment since taking office, Trump has relied on a small number of trusted aides and business partners to handle key issues such as his Gaza peace plan, Ukraine-Russia talks and now Venezuela, the Washington Post reported.
The National Security Council has been cut, and the administration has yet to nominate an assistant secretary of state to handle the Western Hemisphere.
The White House is considering giving Stephen Miller, Trump's deputy chief of staff and homeland security adviser, a bigger role in overseeing operations in Venezuela after Maduro's removal, a source familiar with the matter said, according to the "Washington Post".
Miller is an architect of the Trump administration's anti-immigration and border policies and has played a key role in the effort to remove Maduro. He was among the few senior administration officials who accompanied the president during a press conference on Saturday at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, the American publication notes.