The President of the United States, Donald Trump, indicated a possible dialogue with the Vice President of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, from the Venezuelan political group now deposed and kidnapped president Nicolás Maduroabout a possible interim government for the country.
“We understand that she just took office, but she was, as you know, chosen by Maduro. So, Marco [Rubio, secretário de Estado] is working on it directly. We just had a conversation with her, and she is essentially willing to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again. Very simple,” Trump said in an interview with journalists in Palm Beach, Florida, on Saturday afternoon (3). “She was, I think, very cordial, but she really had no choice. Let’s do this the right way. We’re not just going to break down the door and then walk away, like everyone else does, saying: ‘let it all turn into hell’.”
Citing the Secretaries of State, Marco Rubio, and Defense, Peter Hegseth, Donald Trump once again said that the US government itself will manage Venezuela for the next period, without establishing a deadline.
“To a large extent, for a period of time, the people who are right behind me are going to manage this. We are going to get the country back,” he said. For Trump, it would be risky to hand over power directly to Venezuelans without what he called a correct transition.
“Venezuela has a lot of bad people in there, a lot of bad people who shouldn’t lead. We’re not going to run the risk of one of those people taking Maduro’s place. We have fantastic people, including in the Army. So we’re going to have a group of people running the country until it can be put back on track, generate a lot of money for the people, give people an excellent quality of life and also reimburse the people in our country who were forced to leave Venezuela.”
Questioned by journalists about the role of Maria Corina Machado, leader of the Venezuelan opposition who was awarded the Nobel Peace PrizeLast year, Donald Trump ruled out her involvement in leading this process, because she would not have sufficient internal support.
“Well, I think it would be very difficult for her to be the leader. She doesn’t have internal support or respect within the country. She’s a very nice woman, but she doesn’t have the respect necessary to be a leader,” he declared.
Regarding the operation that resulted in the capture of Maduro and his wife, Cília Flores, Trump admitted to journalists that it could have resulted in the death of both and said that there was an attempt to escape by the Venezuelan president. According to the president, There was shooting and resistance from security guards at the time of the capture.
“That [assassinato de Maduro] could have happened. It could have happened. He was trying to get to a safe location. You know, this safe place is all steel, but he couldn’t get to the door because our men were too fast. They got through the opposition very quickly. And there was a lot of opposition. People wondered if we caught him by surprise. In a way, yes, but they were expecting something. There was a lot of opposition. There was a lot of shooting,” he said.
Shortly before beginning the press statement, Trump published an alleged photo of Nicolás Maduro in which the Venezuelan appears with his eyes covered by sunglasses. The photo was posted by Trump on his Truth Social network, with the description that Maduro was on board the USS Iwo Jima, in reference to the US military ship to which he had been transferred.
Contradiction
Despite Trump’s nod to the vice president of Venezuela, she herself made a statement this Saturday, asking for immediate freedom of President Nicolás Maduro. Delcy Rodríguez said that Venezuela will not return to being a colony and will resist the onslaught of the North American government.
Delcy’s speech took place minutes after the end of President Donald Trump’s press conference, in which he stated that Washington would govern the South American country until a “safe transition”, admitting that North American companies would explore Venezuela’s oil.
The country’s vice president participated in the Nation’s Defense Council, with the presence of the Minister of Defense, Vladimir Padrino López, the Minister of the Interior, Diosdado Cabello, and the president of the Superior Court of Justice (TSJ), Caryslia Rodríguez, among other authorities.
Expanded article at 6:53 pm
