Rubio: Trump Administration Will Stick With Venezuela’s Current Government Despite Looming Difficulties

Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday told senators that the Trump administration plans on working with the current Venezuelan government under acting President Delcy Rodríguez, arguing that a rapid shift from authoritarianism to democracy would not be feasible. Mr. Rubio says that while such a transition will not be “easy,” the administration is going to take steps to ensure that Venezuelans benefit from oil profits and more personal freedom. Democrats were largely outraged by the raid earlier this month to capture President Nicolás Maduro, who is now sitting in a New York City jail as he and wife await trial. Shortly after he was taken by U.S. special forces, his vice president was sworn in to take his place.President Trump says he has a good relationship with Ms. Rogriguez, who served as Mr. Maduro’s vice president since 2018. On Wednesday, Mr. Rubio said working with her government has so far been beneficial for both nations. “At the end of the day we are dealing with people over there that have spent most of their lives living in a gangster paradise, so it’s not going to be like from one day to the next we’re going to have this thing turn around overnight,” Mr. Rubio told his old colleagues on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “But I think we’re making good and decent progress.”He says the eventual goal is to help create a “friendly, stable, prosperous Venezuela” where all people are able to express their beliefs, exercise their rights, and participate in legitimate elections. Mr. Rubio says helping the current government sell oil in the global market is key to that transition. “We’re not going to get there in three weeks,” he said. “It’s going to take some time.”So far, Mr. Rubio says significant progress has been made in turning the Venezuelan government away from Russia and the People’s Republic of China, and more toward the United States in the spirit of cooperation. Oil is now being sold at market rates, Mr. Rubio says, and the country is buying components to refine the oil from America, rather than from Russia. Mr. Trump has effusively praised the nation’s chief opposition leader, María Corina Machado, who went so far as to gift the president her own Nobel Peace Prize medal, which she won last year. Despite that praise from Mr. Trump, however, Mr. Rubio says there will be no rapid shift from the Rodríguez government to a Machado presidency. Rather, the Trump administration is planning a gradual release of political prisoners in the hopes that individuals will be able to peacefully participate in Venezuelan democracy. “I recognize that it won’t be easy,” Mr. Rubio told senators, but added that the current trajectory for Venezuela “is the best plan.”“I think and hope and expect that we will be better off in three months, in six months, in nine months than we would have been, had Maduro still been there,” he said. One of the big questions Democrats had for Mr. Rubio on Wednesday is how the federal government is controlling America’s own proceeds from Venezuelan oil sales. So far, the United States has facilitated the sale of $500 million worth of oil on the global market, with $300 million going to Venezuela and $200 million remaining in a Qatari bank controlled by the American government. In order to continue selling oil, however, Mr. Rubio says the Venezuelans must agree to specific expenditures. He said during his testimony that Ms. Rodríguez’s government already plans to use some of the $300 million revenue to purchase medicine. Republicans on the committee almost universally praised the operation to remove Mr. Maduro. The one exception was Senator Rand Paul, the libertarian who has been saying for years that presidents have far too much latitude in waging military operations without the explicit consent of Congress. “I think we’re in violation of both the spirit and the law of the Constitution by bombing a capital, blockading a country, and removing elected officials,” Dr. Paul argued. “And we certainly wouldn’t tolerate it” if another country did it to America, he said.

Rubio: Trump Administration Will Stick With Venezuela’s Current Government Despite Looming Difficulties

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