US President Donald Trump has demanded “full access“ to Venezuela from the country's Vice President Delcy Rodriguez, including access to natural resources, and threatened new attacks on the South American country, or on neighboring Colombia, Spanish news agency EFE reported, quoted by BTA.
“What we need (from Delcy Rodriguez) is full access. Full access to the oil and other things in the country that will allow us to rebuild it“, Trump said, emphasizing infrastructure and stating that “roads are not built, bridges are destroyed“.
Trump reiterated his claim that major US oil companies will enter Venezuela to repair the infrastructure they built in the past, and that, in his opinion, Venezuela's socialist government has stolen from Washington.
In a statement aboard “Air Force One“ during a flight from his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida to Washington, Trump again described Saturday's operation to capture Maduro and bring him to the United States on charges of “narcoterrorism“ as part of a new interventionist policy in Latin America, which he called “The “Donroe“ Doctrine“, a play on words with the “Monroe“ Doctrine (an isolationist doctrine that defines US foreign policy in the Western Hemisphere and Washington's relations with the European Great Powers, ed.).
“The (Western) hemisphere is ours“, said the American president.
The White House has not publicly provided independent confirmation of key elements of Trump's claim, including airstrikes in and around Caracas or the capture of Maduro.
Trump has said that both Operation Absolute Resolve and his so-called Donro Doctrine are aimed at world peace.
The US president said the US military remains ready to carry out a second strike on Venezuela, similar to the one he said hit Caracas and the nearby regions of La Guaira, Aragua and Miranda.
"If they don't behave, we will take a second strike," Trump said when asked if another strike was out of the question now that Maduro is in a US prison.
He also renewed his warnings against Colombian President Gustavo Petro, saying that the idea of sending a mission like the one he said it captured Maduro, sounds good for Colombia too.
“Like Venezuela, Colombia is also very sick“, Trump said, adding that it is “run by a sick man who loves to make cocaine and sell it to the United States. And that is something he is not going to do for very long.“
Trump again turned to Mexico, saying he had repeatedly offered to send US troops to fight drug traffickers – a proposal he said Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum had rejected on sovereignty grounds.
“We have to do something with Mexico. Mexico has to get organized because the drugs are flowing out of Mexico“, Trump said. He called Sheinbaum a wonderful person but said she was “a little afraid of the cartels that control Mexico“.
Regarding Cuba, Trump said that the government of President Miguel Diaz-Canel was on the verge of falling and that he did not believe that U.S. action would be necessary.
“I don't know how they're going to survive, they have no income. They get all their income from Venezuela, from Venezuelan oil,“ he said.
When asked about a possible political transition in Venezuela and who would temporarily rule the country, Trump responded sharply.
“Don't ask me who's in power, because I'll give you an answer, and it's going to be a very controversial one,“ he told a reporter when asked about a possible political transition in Venezuela and who would temporarily rule the country, before adding: “We're in control.“
On Saturday, Trump expressed doubt that Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado could govern, saying that she was not enjoys considerable respect and support at home. He also suggested that members of his cabinet, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegsett and CIA Director John Ratcliffe, could run Venezuela indefinitely.
Trump seemed to rule out the possibility of early elections in Venezuela.
“I think we're more focused on fixing it, getting it ready first, because it's a disaster. The country is a disaster,“ he said.