‘We’re Going To Run the Country’: Trump Signals Long-Term Involvement in Venezuela After Capturing President

President Donald Trump said the United States would “run” Venezuela until it can ensure a political transition following the capture of President Nicolas Maduro in an extraordinary raid by American special forces early Saturday. The president’s comments suggest the Trump Administration is planning a long-term intervention in the South American country, despite previously denying it was seeking regime change. “We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition. So we don’t want to be involved with having somebody else get in, and we have the same situation that we had for the last long period of years,” Trump said in a press conference at Mar-a-Lago. Read more: Trump Says U.S. Has Captured Venezuelan President Following ‘Large-Scale’ Strike Lauding what he described as an “extraordinary military operation” to capture Maduro, Trump signaled that the United States would take control of Venezuela’s oil industry, which he claimed had been stolen from the U.S. “We’re going to have our very large United States oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure, and start making money for the country,” he said.   “We built Venezuela’s oil industry with American talent, drive and skill, and the socialist regime stole it from us during those previous administrations, and they stole it through force. This constituted one of the largest thefts of American property in the history of our country,” Trump said. In a meandering speech, Trump diverted from the issue of Venezuela to attack U.S. governors for not supporting his deployment of the National Guard to American cities and attack former presidents. The extraordinary attack on Venezuela follows months of pressure from the Trump Administration on Maduro to cede power in the South American country over long-standing accusations of drug trafficking and election rigging. It represents the largest U.S. military operation in Latin America since the 1989 invasion of Panama, when, as today, the U.S. captured the country’s leader, Manuel Antonio Noriega. Maduro was indicted on corruption and drug trafficking charges in the U.S. in 2020. The State Department had announced a $50 million reward for information leading to his arrest or conviction. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, had been indicted in New York and would “soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts.”