Trump also promised US oil companies would move into the country to fix infrastructure “and start making money for the country”.
The Cuban government has said 32 “brave Cuban combatants” died when US forces attacked and captured Maduro and his wife. Cuba – a longstanding socialist ally of Maduro – has announced two days of national mourning.
In several TV interviews on Sunday morning, Rubio defended the US’s military operation in Venezuela, stressing the action did not mean the US is at war with the South American country.
“We are at war against drug trafficking organisations. That’s not a war against Venezuela,” Rubio told NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday morning.
The secretary of state also told CBS that if Venezuela doesn’t “make the right decisions”, the US “will retain multiple levers of leverage to ensure that our interests are protected”.
That includes the “quarantine” the US has placed on Venezuela’s oil, he said.
“We’re going to judge everything by what they do, and we’re going to see what they do,” he added.
Trump also threatened Venezuela’s neighbour Colombia, in comments to reporters aboard Air Force One.
He did not rule out military action against Colombia, saying “it sounds good to me”, and called Colombian President Gustavo Petro “a sick man”. Continue reading…
