Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sunday that President Donald Trump has not ordered a U.S. occupation of Venezuela, but retains the constitutional authority to act against threats as the administration applies pressure through oil enforcement and naval operations.
Rubio’s remarks follow President Donald Trump’s Jan. 3 announcement that the United States would temporarily oversee Venezuela following the capture of Nicolás Maduro — an operation the administration has described as a law-enforcement action supported by the military, as The Dallas Express previously reported.
Speaking on Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan, Rubio said the administration’s current posture centers on what he described as an oil “quarantine,” not boots on the ground.
“The president always retains optionality on anything and on all of these matters,” Rubio said. “He certainly has the ability and the right under the Constitution of the United States to act against imminent and urgent threats against the country.”
Rubio said that, as of now, U.S. actions are focused on restricting Venezuela’s oil revenue and disrupting drug trafficking, rather than occupying the country.
“What you’re seeing right now is an oil quarantine that allows us to exert tremendous leverage over what happens next,” he said.
Rubio described the U.S. naval posture in the region as one of the largest in modern Western Hemisphere history, capable of intercepting sanctioned vessels and limiting how the Venezuelan regime generates revenue.
“It is capable of stopping not just drug boats, but stopping any of these sanctioned boats that come in and out, and really paralyzing that portion of how the regime generates revenue,” Rubio said, adding that the posture “will continue to be in place.”
Pressed on why the U.S. operation targeted only Nicolás Maduro and not other indicted officials, Rubio defended the scope of the mission, calling it a complex and high-risk operation.
“The number one person on the list was the guy who claimed to be the president of the country that he was not,” Rubio said. “It is not easy to land helicopters in the middle of the largest military base in the country, grab him, and leave without losing any American lives.”
Rubio rejected suggestions that Venezuela should immediately hold elections following Maduro’s arrest.
“Everyone’s asking why, 24 hours after Nicolás Maduro was arrested, there isn’t an election scheduled for tomorrow,” he said. “That’s absurd. These things take time. There’s a process.”
Rubio said U.S. policy will be judged by actions taken by those currently exercising power in Venezuela, not public statements, and warned that American leverage would remain in place if conditions are not met.
“If they don’t make the right decisions, the United States will retain multiple levers of leverage to ensure that our interests are protected, and that includes the oil quarantine that’s in place, among other things,” Rubio said.
Rubio said the administration’s objectives remain focused on stopping drug trafficking, limiting foreign militant influence, and preventing Venezuela’s oil industry from benefiting criminal networks rather than the Venezuelan people.
