Secretary of State Marco Rubio told U.S. Senators that America is prepared to use force to ensure Venezuela’s “acting President” Delcy Rodríguez cooperates, Bloomberg reported.
“We are prepared to use force to ensure maximum cooperation if other methods fail,” Rubio reportedly said in a prepared statement for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “It is our hope that this will not prove necessary, but we will never shy away from our duty to the American people and our mission in this Hemisphere.”
Sec. Rubio will appear before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday morning at a hearing on the United States’ policy towards Venezuela.
ABC News reports that Rubio will state that the U.S. is not at war with Venezuela and that the Venezuelan socialist regime leaders are cooperating with America, but will note that the Trump administration would not rule out using additional force if needed to ensure their cooperation following the January 3 U.S. law enforcement operation in Caracas that saw the capture of dictator Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores.
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Rubio is expected to defend President Trump’s decision to capture Maduro, who is presently detained at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, awaiting trial on multiple narco-terrorism charges. The State Secretary is also reportedly expected to defend other actions taken by the Trump administration against the rogue Venezuelan socialist regime, such as the military strikes on drug-trafficking vessels and the seizure of sanctioned oil tankers.
“There is no war against Venezuela, and we did not occupy a country,” Rubio is reportedly expected to say, according to the statement. “There are no U.S. troops on the ground. This was an operation to aid law enforcement.”
“Rodríguez is well aware of the fate of Maduro; it is our belief that her own self-interest aligns with advancing our key objectives,” Rubio will reportedly tell Congress on Wednesday.
President Trump has told reporters over the past days that Rodríguez is cooperating with the United States and is in close communication with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Locally, however, Rodríguez maintains a seemingly conflicted stance towards the United States, and has recently claimed that she has had “enough” of Washington’s orders. On Monday, responding to remarks issued by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Rodríguez asserted that Venezuela “does not accept orders from any external factor.”
On Tuesday, asked for comment on Rodríguez’s recent remarks by Spanish journalist David Alandete, President Trump said that he and Rodríguez have a “good relationship.”
Hours later, on Tuesday, Rodríguez appears to have toned down her discourse and announced the establishment of a direct working agenda with U.S. authorities “based on principles of respect.”
“I reiterate what President Donald Trump has said, that we have established channels of communication based on respect and courtesy, both with the President of the United States and with Secretary Rubio, with whom we are establishing a working agenda,” Rodríguez reportedly said during an official visit to a hospital in Caracas.
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