Politics

Interim Venezuelan leader Delcy Rodríguez extended an invitation to U.S. President Donald Trump “to collaborate” and expressed her desire for “respectful relations” in a message shared on Instagram late Sunday. This statement came after Rodríguez had delivered strong speeches against the Trump administration over the weekend, marking a significant change in her tone. She wrote, “We invite the US government to collaborate with us on an agenda of cooperation aimed at shared development within the framework of international law to strengthen lasting community coexistence.” Her comments followed a warning from Trump that she could “pay a very big price” if she did not comply with U.S. demands. Secretary of State Marco Rubio mentioned on Sunday that the U.S. would not directly manage Venezuela, apart from enforcing an existing “oil quarantine” on the country. This was a shift from Trump’s earlier insistence that the U.S. would govern Venezuela after the removal of Nicolás Maduro. Rubio's remarks appeared intended to ease concerns that aggressive actions to change the regime in Venezuela might lead to another long foreign intervention or a failed nation-building effort. This was in contrast to Trump’s vague assertions that the U.S. would temporarily “run” the oil-rich nation, implying a governing structure under U.S. control in Caracas. Rubio clarified that the U.S. would maintain the oil quarantine already in place on sanctioned tankers before Maduro’s ousting early Saturday, using this leverage to encourage policy changes in Venezuela. “And so that’s the sort of control the president is pointing to when he says that,” Rubio stated on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “We continue with that quarantine, and we expect to see changes, not just in the way the oil industry is run for the benefit of the people, but also to stop drug trafficking.”