U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday announced that the United States would \u201crun\u201d Venezuela following an extraordinary U.S. operation that resulted in the capture of Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper, and judicious transition,\u201d Trump, flanked by top cabinet officials, said in televised remarks from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. \u201cWe can\u2019t take a chance that somebody else takes over Venezuela that doesn\u2019t have the good of the Venezuelan people in mind.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday announced that the United States would \u201crun\u201d Venezuela following an extraordinary U.S. operation that resulted in the capture of Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro<\/span> and his wife, Cilia Flores.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper, and judicious transition,\u201d Trump, flanked by top cabinet officials, said in televised remarks from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. \u201cWe can\u2019t take a chance that somebody else takes over Venezuela that doesn\u2019t have the good of the Venezuelan people in mind.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s unclear precisely how the United States intends to \u201crun\u201d Venezuela and whether that could involve a prolonged military occupation. Trump offered vague details on this, suggesting that he would designate people to oversee the process\u2014signaling that U.S. officials would be directly involved.<\/p>\n The president said it was his understanding that Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodr\u00edguez was just sworn in as Maduro\u2019s replacement. Trump said U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with Rodr\u00edguez and that she\u2019s ready to work with the United States. Reports on Saturday suggested that Rodr\u00edguez was in Russia<\/a>, but the Russian government denied<\/a> this.<\/p>\n Trump also did not rule out having boots on the ground in Venezuela and suggested that the United States could be involved in running the country for years. \u201cWe\u2019re not afraid of boots on the ground. \u2026 We had boots on the ground last night,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n The president lauded the operation that resulted in Maduro\u2019s capture as one of the \u201cmost stunning, effective, and powerful displays of American military might\u201d in history. Trump said no U.S. troops were killed and no military equipment was lost. The chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine, said the operation involved 150 aircraft launched from 20 different bases.<\/p>\n Trump also signaled that the White House could potentially order further military actions in Venezuela, sending a warning to Maduro\u2019s allies who remain in the country. \u201cAll political and military figures in Venezuela should understand what happened to Maduro can happen to them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The president also indicated that the United States would be assuming control of Venezuela\u2019s oil industry. \u201cWe\u2019re going to have our very large United States oil companies\u2014the biggest anywhere in the world\u2014go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure, and start making money for the country,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re going to run the country right. \u2026 It\u2019s going to make a lot of money,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n Speaking after Trump, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Maduro \u201ceffed around and he found out.\u201d Hegseth said the operation represented \u201cAmerica First\u201d and \u201cpeace through strength.\u201d<\/p>\n A post by Trump on Truth Social that he says shows Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s<\/span> Maduro aboard the USS Iwo Jima<\/em>. Truth Social<\/span> <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Trump initially announced the operation<\/span> in a social media post<\/a> on Truth Social, stating that Maduro and his wife <\/span>had been \u201ccaptured and flown out of the Country\u201d after a \u201clarge scale strike\u201d that was executed in \u201cconjunction with U.S. Law Enforcement.\u201d Trump\u2019s post came hours after a series of explosions were reported at military bases in Venezuela\u2019s capital of Caracas overnight between Friday and Saturday. The Venezuelan government said in a statement that strikes also took place in three other states across the country.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The Trump administration has been ratcheting up<\/a> its military campaign against Venezuela and Maduro for months, moving thousands of troops and several ships off the country\u2019s coast and conducting multiple strikes on boats<\/a> that it claimed were being used by drug traffickers\u2014without offering hard evidence to back up its assertions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino L\u00f3pez denounced what he described as the \u201cmost criminal military aggression\u201d by the United States.<\/p>\n \u201cThe presence of these international troops that are sowing death, grief, and destruction \u2026 is responding to the greed for our natural resources,\u201d L\u00f3pez said in a public address shortly after the strikes. \u201cThey have spread false lies about narcoterrorism, and they are seeking regime change at the hands of U.S. imperialism.\u201d<\/p>\n Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who has clashed<\/a> with Trump repeatedly, wrote<\/a> on X that he would deploy forces to his country\u2019s border with Venezuela to prepare for a potential influx of refugees. \u201cThe government of Colombia rejects the aggression against the sovereignty of Venezuela and of Latin America,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Argentine President Javier Milei\u2014a staunch Trump supporter\u2014posted<\/a> a video of himself previously expressing support for U.S. actions in Venezuela with the Spanish caption: \u201cLong live freedom, damn it.\u201d<\/p>\n Though Maduro was viewed across the world as an illegitimate dictator, the international community is also raising serious concerns about the U.S. operation to capture and depose the Venezuelan president.<\/p>\n \u201cThese developments constitute a dangerous precedent,\u201d St\u00e9phane Dujarric, a spokesperson for United Nations chief Ant\u00f3nio Guterres, said in a statement<\/a>. \u201cThe Secretary-General continues to emphasize the importance of full respect\u2014by all\u2014of international law, including the UN Charter. He\u2019s deeply concerned that the rules of international law have not been respected.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n \n \tAnd how the region is navigating a changed United States. \t <\/a><\/p>\n \n \tThere are lots of reasons why the Trump administration is angling for regime change in Caracas, but heavy oil isn\u2019t one of them. \t <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n <\/a><\/p>\n \n \tMar\u00eda Corina Machado won the Nobel Peace Prize\u2014but the fight for democracy is far from over. \t <\/p>\n There are also open questions about what happens next and who will lead Venezuela moving forward. When asked whether he would back Mar\u00eda Corina Machado, Venezuela\u2019s opposition leader, to be the next president of the South American country, Trump told Fox and Friends<\/em>, \u201cWe\u2019re going to have to look at it.\u201d<\/p>\n Venezuela is home to the world\u2019s largest proven oil reserves, and many in Washington have suggested that a desire for control of these resources has driven the U.S. military actions taken against the country. \u201cIt\u2019s not about drugs. If it was, Trump wouldn\u2019t have pardoned one of the largest narco traffickers in the world last month,\u201d Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said<\/a> Saturday in a post on X, alluding to Trump\u2019s controversial decision to pardon<\/a> the ex-president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hern\u00e1ndez, who was convicted of drug crimes. \u201cIt\u2019s about oil and regime change,\u201d Ocasio-Cortez said.<\/p>\n Some in the Trump administration denied that Maduro\u2019s capture and removal from Venezuela constituted regime change. \u201cThis is not regime change this is justice,\u201d Mike Waltz, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., said<\/a> in a post on X.<\/p>\n There are also open questions about what message the operation sends to other U.S. adversaries, including those aligned with Maduro, such as Cuba, as well as the potential for further military actions or strikes in Latin America. \u201cI think Cuba is going to be something we\u2019ll end up talking about because Cuba is a failing nation. \u2026 It\u2019s very similar,\u201d Trump said during his press conference at Mar-a-Lago. Trump also said<\/a> Colombia\u2019s Petro, whom he has baselessly referred<\/a> to as an \u201cillegal drug leader,\u201d needs to \u201cwatch his ass.\u201d<\/p>\n And during his interview with Fox and Friends<\/em> earlier in the day, Trump signaled that the United States could potentially take actions against drug cartels in Mexico. \u201cThe cartels are running Mexico,\u201d Trump said. \u201cSomething is going to have to be done with Mexico.\u201d<\/p>\n When Congress reopens on Monday<\/span>, lawmakers will likely pose difficult questions about why they were kept out of the loop about the dramatic weekend operation. Republican Sen. Mike Lee initially questioned Trump\u2019s authority to order Saturday\u2019s strikes. \u201cI look forward to learning what, if anything, might constitutionally justify this action in the absence of a declaration of war or authorization for the use of military force,\u201d he wrote<\/a> in a post on X. Lee subsequently posted<\/a> that he had spoken with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who informed him that Maduro had \u201cbeen arrested by U.S. personnel to stand trial on criminal charges in the United States, and that the kinetic action we saw tonight was deployed to protect and defend those executing the arrest warrant.\u201d<\/p>\n The U.S. Justice Department had charged<\/a> Maduro with alleged drug trafficking and corruption in March 2020, during Trump\u2019s first term in office, accusing the Venezuelan president of conspiring to \u201cflood the United States with cocaine.\u201d The Trump administration has signaled that Maduro and his wife will face prosecution in the United States. U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi said<\/a> on Saturday in a post on X that \u201cMaduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, have been indicted in the Southern District of New York\u201d and \u201cwill soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts.\u201d<\/p>\n The operation to capture Maduro is among the most stunning and controversial steps the United States has taken against a foreign leader in decades. The move adds to the long and painful history of U.S. interventions in Latin America and was conducted without the authorization of Congress or the U.N. Security Council.<\/p>\n Along these lines, a number of Democratic lawmakers have questioned the legality of the operation that resulted in Maduro\u2019s capture. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries in a statement said<\/a> the Trump administration \u201chas not sought congressional authorization for the use of military force and has failed to properly notify Congress in advance of the operation in Venezuela.\u201d<\/p>\n Similarly, Democratic Rep. Jim Himes, the ranking member on the House Intelligence Committee, in a statement said, \u201cMaduro is an illegitimate ruler, but I have seen no evidence that his presidency poses a threat that would justify military action without Congressional authorization.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump told Fox and Friends<\/em> that lawmakers criticizing him for taking action without congressional approval were \u201cweak, stupid people.\u201d While the U.S. Constitution grants the president broad powers when it comes to the use of military force, only Congress has the authority to declare war. While Trump and others in his administration have claimed that the United States is at war with \u201cnarcoterrorists,\u201d Congress has made no such declaration.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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\n <\/span>\n How Venezuela Fits Into Trump\u2019s Strategy for Latin America <\/h3>\n
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\n <\/span>\n Trump\u2019s Venezuela Fixation Is Not About the Oil <\/h3>\n
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\n ![\"Machado](\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Maria-Corina-Machado-Venezuela-boat-strikes-Maduro-opposition.png?w=800?quality=80\")
\n <\/span>\n The Voice of Venezuela\u2019s Opposition <\/h3>\n
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