The United States is ready to work with Venezuela’s remaining leaders if they make “the right decision”, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Sunday after an audacious US operation removed the oil-rich country’s president, Nicolas Maduro.
“We’re going to judge everything by what they do, and we’re going to see what they do,” Rubio told CBS News’ ‘Face the Nation’.
“I do know this: that if they don’t make the right decision, that the United States will retain multiple levers of leverage.”
Rubio appeared to significantly soften Trump’s extraordinary statements on Saturday that the US will “run” Venezuela and that he would not be afraid to put military “boots on the ground”.
Instead, he made clear that Washington is ready to try working with Maduro’s vice president and now acting president, Delcy Rodriguez, and the rest of the ousted leader’s cabinet.
“We are going to see what happens moving forward,” he said.
“We’re going to make an assessment on the basis of what they do, not what they say publicly in the interim, not what, you know, what they’ve done in the past in many cases, but what they do moving forward.”
He also gave no indication that the Trump administration would support opposition figures who have previously been hailed by Washington as the country’s legitimate leaders.
Asked about backing Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, last year’s Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Rubio said he had “admiration” for her, but avoided any demands that she – or her party’s candidate in the 2024 election, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia – become interim leaders.
China, North Korea condemn US actions
Venezuela’s ally China initially said it “strongly condemns” the US operation, while France warned a solution cannot “be imposed from outside”.
China’s foreign ministry later said on Sunday that the United States should immediately release Maduro and his wife and resolve the situation in Venezuela through dialogue and negotiation.
The ministry said in a statement on its website that the United States should also ensure the personal safety of Maduro and his wife, saying that their deportation violated international law and norms.
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said he was “deeply concerned that the rules of international law have not been respected”. At Venezuela’s request, the UN Security Council will meet on Monday to discuss the crisis.
While many Western allies oppose Maduro and say he stole Venezuela’s 2024 election, Trump’s boasts about controlling the nation and exploiting its oil revived painful memories of past US interventions in Latin America, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Some legal experts questioned the legality of an operation to seize the head of state of a foreign power, while Democrats who said they were misled during recent Congress briefings demanded a plan for what is to follow.
Trump said as part of the takeover, major US oil companies would move back into Venezuela, which has the world’s largest oil reserves, and refurbish badly degraded oil infrastructure, a process experts said could take years.
North Korea also denounced the US strikes as “the most serious form of encroachment of sovereignty,” state news agency KCNA said today. “The incident is another example that clearly confirms once again the rogue and brutal nature of the United States,” KCNA said, citing a spokesperson for North Korea’s foreign ministry.
The statement came after North Korea launched ballistic missiles earlier on Sunday, the day the leader of South Korea begins a state visit to China, Pyongyang’s chief ally.
Pyongyang said the current situation in Venezuela “caused a catastrophic consequence to ensuring the identity of the regional and international relations structure”.
UK seeks peaceful transition to ‘legitimate’ Venezuelan govt
Meanwhile, the United Kingdom’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the UK has “long supported a transition of power in Venezuela”.
“We regarded Maduro as an illegitimate president and we shed no tears about the end of his regime,” he said on X.
Six die as roof collapses during wedding in Charsadda
Six people were killed when the roof of a room collapsed in Charsadda. According to rescue sources, the incident occurred in the Shabqadar area of Charsadda district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where the roof of a room collapsed during a wedding ceremony at the house of a man named Fazal Dad in the locality of Chhat Mitha Khairabad.
Officials said that wedding guests were trapped under the debris after the roof collapsed. The accident claimed six lives, while several others were injured.
Rescue sources added that four members of the same family, including five young girls, died on the spot.
Police and rescue teams have started collecting further details of the incident, and after necessary legal formalities, the bodies were handed over to the heirs. agencies”I reiterated my support for international law this morning. The UK government will discuss the evolving situation with US counterparts in the days ahead as we seek a safe and peaceful transition to a legitimate government that reflects the will of the Venezuelan people.”