The Washington administration will require the Venezuelan authorities to act in accordance with American interests, White House press secretary Caroline Leavitt said on Fox News.
“We will ensure that this country acts in accordance with American interests“, she noted, speaking about Washington's policy towards Venezuela and contacts between American officials and its authorities.
The United States has enormous influence over the Venezuelan government, Leavitt said.
“We currently have enormous influence over the remaining representatives of the Maduro government“, she said, noting that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is in constant correspondence with the authorities of republic.
The United States controls the situation in Venezuela “by definition“ and Washington is effectively running the country during the transition, said White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller.
“We control Venezuela by definition because we have American military forces stationed near the country. We set the terms. We have imposed a complete embargo on all their oil and all their trade opportunities, they need our permission to trade,“ he said in an interview with CNN.
The laws of the real world show that it is governed by force and power, said White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller.
“You can talk all you want about international decency and all that, but we live in a world, the real world, that is governed by force and power. "These are the iron laws of the world," he said when asked if Venezuela's acting president, Delcy Rodriguez, was currently the head of state.