Rubio Says U.S. Will Use Oil Leverage, Not Direct Rule, in Venezuela

Secretary of State Marco Rubio spent Sunday describing the administration’s Venezuela plan in narrower terms than President Donald Trump had a day earlier, saying the United States intends to shape Venezuelan policy through an oil “quarantine” and the threat of force rather than govern the country. Trump said Saturday that the United States would “run the country” during a transition after U.S. forces captured Nicolas Maduro.

On NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Rubio said the U.S. is “running policy” and wants Venezuela to “move in a certain direction,” according to CNBC. On ABC’s “This Week,” he described the quarantine as a way of keeping Venezuela’s economy from advancing until American and Venezuelan interests are met. The goal, he said, is not to secure the oil fields but to stop sanctioned oil from moving in or out until the country changes how its oil industry is governed, CNBC reported.

On CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Rubio presented the case in the language of law enforcement and hemispheric security. He listed the aims as ending drug trafficking and gang activity, expelling Colombian armed groups known as the FARC and ELN, and ending Venezuela’s ties to Hezbollah and Iran. He said Venezuela is “not the Middle East” and that the mission differs from past interventions. He said the goal is to keep a country like Venezuela from falling under “malign influence” in the hemisphere, according to CBS. Rubio said Maduro, who faces U.S. drug trafficking charges that he denies, had been offered a way out and refused it. “We just could not work with” him, Rubio said.

Asked about occupation, Rubio did not rule out further military action. “The president always retains optionality on anything and on all of these matters,” he said on CBS. He noted that naval forces have struck more than 30 boats and that the U.S. can seize sanctioned oil shipments with a court order. CNBC reported that the United States has seized tankers linked to Venezuela and moved warships and warplanes into the Caribbean.

On who is in charge in Caracas, Rubio was noncommittal. Asked whether acting President Delcy Rodriguez is someone the United States can work with, he said, “We’re going to find out.” CBS reported that Venezuela’s Supreme Court gave Rodriguez full presidential power on Saturday and that the military recognized her as acting leader Sunday. Rubio called the idea of an immediate election “absurd” and said “These things take time.” He expressed admiration for opposition leader Maria Corina Machado and Edmundo Gonzalez but said “there’s the mission we are on right now.”

On oil, Rubio said he had not spoken with specific U.S. companies but expects “dramatic interest from Western companies,” and that Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Energy Secretary Chris Wright are assessing it. Chevron is currently the only company operating in Venezuela, CNBC noted. CBS reported that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said no oil is entering or leaving the country under the blockade of sanctioned oil that Trump ordered last month.

Critics in both parties have warned against open-ended commitments. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said Americans would “pay the price in both blood and dollars,” CNBC reported,. Supporters of the operation, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, who called it “decisive and justified” on Saturday according to NBC News, treat it as a law enforcement action against a leader indicted on drug charges. Rubio’s emphasis on sanctions leverage rather than occupation fits that argument, and it leaves open how long the quarantine would last and what would end it.