The statements were offered in an interview given to The Atlantic magazine, conducted by telephone when Donald Trump arrived at his golf course in West Palm Beach, and reviewed by Reuters
US President Donald Trump warned that Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez could face consequences “probably higher” than those of President Nicolás Maduro, recently captured by US forces, “if she does not do the right thing.”
The statements were offered in an interview granted to the magazine Atlanticmade by phone as Trump arrived at his golf course in West Palm Beach, and reviewed by Reuters.
“If he doesn’t do the right thing, he will pay a very high price, probably higher than Maduro,” said the US president.
Trump had praised Rodríguez on Saturday, January 3, hours after US forces captured Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores in Caracas. However, the tone changed after the vice president declared that Venezuela would defend its natural resources.
In the interview, Trump defended the decision to detain Maduro by force and assured that the subsequent scenario is preferable to the previous situation. “The reconstruction there and the regime change, whatever you want to call it, is better than what there is now. It can’t be worse,” he said.
*Read also: Marco Rubio on Machado: He is not in Venezuela and we have to deal with reality
The president also suggested that other countries could be exposed to similar actions by Washington. “We need Greenland, without a doubt,” he said, referring to the island that is part of Denmark, a NATO member country.
Rubio opens the door to negotiations
For his part, the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, assured this Sunday that Washington is willing to work with Delcy Rodríguez and other Venezuelan leaders, as long as they make “the right decisions.”
“We are going to judge everything by what they do, and we are going to see what they do,” Rubio said during an interview on the program Face the Nation of CBSNews.
The head of US diplomacy considered that Rodríguez is a figure with whom “you can negotiate,” unlike Maduro. “The difference is that the person in charge (…) was someone you couldn’t work with,” he said.
Rubio warned that, if decisions that Washington considers correct do not occur, the United States will maintain “multiple levers of pressure” on the Venezuelan leadership.
The statements occur in the midst of a scenario of high political and diplomatic tension, with regional and international repercussions following the recent events in Venezuela.
*Journalism in Venezuela is carried out in a hostile environment for the press with dozens of legal instruments in place to punish the word, especially the laws “against hate”, “against fascism” and “against the blockade.” This content was written taking into consideration the threats and limits that, consequently, have been imposed on the dissemination of information from within the country.
Post Views: 92
