President Trump issued a warning to Venezuela’s interim leader, Delcy Rodríguez, during a Sunday interview after she railed against the U.S. following the capture of President Nicolás Maduro in the oil-rich South American country.
Trump said Saturday that Rodríguez, who served as Venezuela’s vice president before the U.S. attack and capture of Maduro, had been “gracious” during a conversation with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and told him Venezuelan officials would “do whatever you need.”
- However, she condemned the Trump administration’s actions in a televised addressed later Saturday and vowed her country “will never return to being the colony of another empire.”
“If she doesn’t do what’s right, she is going to pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro,” Trump told The Atlantic Sunday.
- Defending the U.S. operation to capture Maduro in Venezuela, Trump said in the telephone interview that “rebuilding there and regime change, anything you want to call it, is better than what you have right now,” adding: “Can’t get any worse.”
The president doubled-down on his desire for U.S. control of Greenland, which is an autonomous territory within the kingdom of Denmark has drown, during his interview with reporter Michael Scherer.
Mexico, Cuba and Colombia
Hours after the U.S. invaded Venezuela to seize Maduro, President Trump sent a warning to the governments of Mexico, Cuba and Colombia that their countries could be next.
The stunning attack on Caracas follows Trump’s recent assertion of his own version of the Monroe Doctrine, and the president’s comments that the U.S is not afraid to put “boots on the ground” in the country suggest that the administration won’t hesitate to have an ongoing presence in the region.
What he’s saying: “I think Cuba is going to be something we’ll end up talking about, because Cuba is a failing nation right now,” Trump said when asked how the Caribbean country should be interpreting the Venezuelan operation.
“We want to help the people. It’s very similar in the sense that we want to help the people in Cuba, but we want to also help the people that were forced out of Cuba and living in this country.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, whose parents fled Cuba, added that if he “lived in Havana” and if he was “in the government,” he’d be “concerned, at least.”
The president also doubled down on his criticism of Colombian President Gustavo Petro, and has previously claimed that the Latin American country has at least three major cocaine factories.
“He’s making cocaine. They’re sending it into the United States. So he does have to watch his ass,” Trump said Saturday, echoing comments he made last month.
Earlier Saturday, Trump told Fox News’ “Fox & Friends” that “something’s going to have to be done with Mexico” in response to a question about America’s southern neighbor.
Trump went on to allege that Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum isn’t running her country, but rather that drug cartels control the nation.
“We could be politically correct and be nice and say, ‘Oh yeah she is.’ She is very frightened of the cartels,” Trump said. “They’re running Mexico. I’ve asked her numerous times would you like us to take out the cartels. ‘No, no, no, Mr. President, no, no, no, please.’ So we have to do something.”
Colombia, Cuba and Mexico were among the countries denouncing the U.S. operation in Venezuela, saying the attack put the region’s stability at risk.
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