Rubio says US will press change in Venezuela with oil embargo, while
Trump insists 'we're in charge'
[January 05, 2026]
By REGINA GARCIA CANO, MATTHEW LEE, WILL WEISSERT and ERIC
TUCKER
WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested Sunday that
the United States would not govern Venezuela day-to-day other than
enforcing an existing “oil quarantine” on the country, even as President
Donald Trump again insisted that the U.S. would be in control following
its ouster of leader Nicolás Maduro.
Rubio’s statements seemed designed to temper concerns that the assertive
action to achieve regime change in Venezuela might lead the U.S. into
another prolonged foreign intervention or failed attempt at
nation-building.
They stood in contrast to Trump’s broad but vague claims that the U.S.
would at least temporarily “run” the oil-rich nation, comments that
suggested some sort of governing structure under which Caracas would be
controlled by Washington.
Still, Trump reiterated Sunday night that “we’re in charge,” while
interim Venezuelan leader Delcy Rodríguez invited the Republican
president “to collaborate” in a newly conciliatory stance.
“We’re going to run it, fix it,” he said of Venezuela while aboard Air
Force One en route to Washington from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
Hours earlier, Rubio offered a more nuanced take, saying the U.S. would
enforce an oil quarantine that was already in place on sanctioned
tankers before Maduro was removed from power early Saturday and use that
leverage to press policy changes in Venezuela.
“And so that’s the sort of control the president is pointing to when he
says that," Rubio said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” "We continue with that
quarantine, and we expect to see that there will be changes, not just in
the way the oil industry is run for the benefit of the people, but also
so that they stop the drug trafficking.”
Rodríguez changes her tone
Venezuela's interim president said she seeks “respectful relations” with
the U.S., in a shift from a previously defiant tone.
“We invite the US government to collaborate with us on an agenda of
cooperation oriented towards shared development within the framework of
international law to strengthen lasting community coexistence,”
Rodríguez wrote in an online post.
After the U.S. operation, she called Maduro the country’s rightful
leader and urged the U.S. to release him, declaring the actions an
“atrocity” and saying “history and justice will make the extremists who
promoted this armed aggression pay.”
Her conciliatory message came after Trump threatened that she could “pay
a very big price” if she didn’t fall in line with U.S. demands.
Trump told reporters Sunday night that Rodríguez is “cooperating” but
reiterated the threat from an earlier interview with The Atlantic.
He told reporters on Air Force One that he wanted her to provide “total
access” to aspects of the country large and small — from major oil
operations to basic infrastructure.
“We need access to the oil and to other things in their country that
allow us to rebuild their country,” Trump said.
Venezuela’s Supreme Court ruled Rodríguez would be acting president
earlier Sunday.
Cuba, meanwhile, announced that 32 Cuban security officers were killed
in the U.S. operation in Venezuela, which Trump acknowledged: “You know,
a lot of Cubans were killed yesterday.”
“There was a lot of death on the other side,” Trump said. “No death on
our side.”
Trump still says US will ‘run’ Venezuela
Trump's vowing that the U.S. will run Venezuela has sparked concerns
among some Democrats and drawn unease from parts of his own Republican
coalition, including an “America First” base that is opposed to foreign
interventions, and from observers who recalled past nation-building
efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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Men watch smoke rising from a dock after explosions were heard at La
Guaira port, Venezuela, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias
Delacroix)
Rubio dismissed such criticism, saying Trump’s intent had been
misunderstood.
“The whole foreign policy apparatus thinks everything is Libya,
everything is Iraq, everything is Afghanistan,” Rubio said. "This is not
the Middle East. And our mission here is very different. This is the
Western Hemisphere.”
He also suggested the U.S. would give Maduro’s subordinates now in
charge time to govern, saying, “We’re going to judge everything by what
they do.”
Though he did not rule out boots on the ground in Venezuela, Rubio said
the U.S., which has built up its presence in the region, was already
capable of stopping alleged drug boats and sanctioned oil tankers.
The blockade on sanctioned oil tankers — some of which have been seized
by the U.S. — “remains in place, and that’s a tremendous amount of
leverage that will continue to be in place until we see changes that not
just further the national interest of the United States, which is number
one, but also that lead to a better future for the people of Venezuela,”
he added.
Even before the operation that nabbed Maduro, experts questioned the
legality of aspects of the Trump administration’s pressure campaign on
his government, including the deadly bombing of boats accused of
trafficking drugs that some scholars said stretched the boundaries of
international law.
Maduro due in court Monday
A middle-of-the-night operation extracted Maduro and his wife, Cilia
Flores, from their home in a military base in the capital city of
Caracas — an act Maduro’s government called “imperialist.” The couple
faces U.S. charges of participating in a narco-terrorism conspiracy.
The dramatic seizure capped an intensive Trump administration pressure
campaign on Venezuela’s autocratic leader and months of secret planning,
resulting in the most assertive American action to achieve regime change
since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Legal experts raised questions about
the lawfulness of the operation, which was done without congressional
approval.
Maduro is due to make his first appearance Monday in Manhattan's federal
court.
He and other Venezuelan officials were indicted in 2020 on narco-terrorism
conspiracy charges, and the Justice Department released a new indictment
Saturday of Maduro and his wife that painted his administration as a
“corrupt, illegitimate government” fueled by a drug-trafficking
operation that flooded the U.S with cocaine. The U.S. government does
not recognize Maduro as the country’s leader.
Quiet falls in Venezuela
Venezuela’s government kept operating as usual over the weekend as
ministers remained in their posts.
The capital was unusually quiet Sunday with few vehicles moving around
and convenience stores, gas stations and other businesses closed.
Maduro’s son, lawmaker Nicolás Ernesto Guerra, has not appeared in
public since the attack. On Saturday, he posted on Instagram a
government statement repudiating the capture of his father and
stepmother.
The country’s incoming National Assembly is set to be sworn in at the
legislative palace in Caracas. The unicameral assembly will remain under
control of the ruling party.
___
Garcia Cano reported from Caracas, Venezuela. Associated Press writers
Darlene Superville aboard Air Force One, Jorge Rueda in Caracas,
Venezuela, and Isabel Debre in Buenos Aires, Argentina, contributed to
this report.
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