By AAMER MADHANI Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump declared Saturday’s military operation that led to the ouster of Nicolás Maduro a major success as he offered a vague plan for his administration “to run” Venezuela until a transition of power can take place.
While there are no visible signs of a U.S. presence on the ground in Caracas, Trump was demonstrating chutzpah that’s become the trademark of his foreign policy approach. It’s one marked by a grand confidence that his will on the international stage is an immovable force.
“This was one of the most stunning, effective and powerful displays of American military might and competence in American history,” Trump declared at a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
The president strode into office with a promise to turn the page on America’s decades of foreign entanglements. But on Saturday, he committed the U.S. to help Venezuela usher in a period of “peace” and “justice” after decades of rule by strongmen.
The president’s pledge to a Venezuela project comes as he finds himself struggling to bring about a permanent peace between Israel and Hamas in Gaza and find an endgame to Russia’s nearly four-year war in Ukraine.
But the path ahead is treacherous. The White House will need to grapple with any power vacuum caused by Maduro’s ouster and inevitable complications of trying to maintain stability in a country that’s already endured years of hyperinflation, food and medicine shortages and brain drain despite its vast oil wealth.
It also remains to be seen what lessons U.S. adversaries may take from Trump’s decision to demonstrate American might in its sphere of influence in the aftermath of Trump’s play in Caracas. China’s Xi Jinping has vowed to annex the self-ruled island of Taiwan and Russia’s Vladimir Putin has designs on neighbor Ukraine and diminishing NATO’s eastern flank.
Yet Trump was unflinching in his confidence that the bad actors of the old government will be pushed aside as he helps make Venezuela “great again.” He also sought to reassure American taxpayers that they won’t be on the hook for his plan to help out Caracas.
“The money coming out of the ground is very substantial,” Trump said. “We’re going to get reimbursed for everything that we spend.”
Trump hasn’t shied away from flexing U.S. military might even as he has vowed to keep America out of war. He’s now twice used U.S. forces to carry out risky operations against American adversaries. In June, he directed U.S. strikes on key Iranian nuclear sites.
Saturday’s action stirred fresh anxiety in capitals around the world that have sought to adjust to a new normal in Trump 2.0, where the idea of the U.S. trying to find global consensus on issues of war and peace is now passe.
What’s next for Venezuela?
European allies had expressed concern as Trump built up a massive presence of troops in the Caribbean in recent months and carried out dozens of lethal strikes on suspected drug smugglers — many that the administration claimed were effectively an arm of the Maduro government.
Now the Trump administration’s dead-of-night extradition of Maduro and his wife and its plans to “run” the country, even temporarily, are raising stark new questions about the legality of the U.S. moves under a broader campaign against the South American nation.
Maduro was hardly viewed as a choir boy by the international community. His 2018 and 2024 elections were seen as riddled with irregularities and viewed as illegitimate.
But many U.S. allies greeted news of Maduro’s capture with a measure of trepidation.
European Commission President António Costa said he had “great concern” about the situation in Venezuela following the U.S. operation.
France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said “the military operation that led to the capture of Maduro infringes the principle of the non-use of force that underpins international law.”
The criticism from some Democrats over Trump’s military action to oust Maduro was immediate.
“This war is illegal, it’s embarrassing that we went from the world cop to the world bully in less than one year.” Sen. Ruben Gallego of Arizona wrote on X. “There is no reason for us to be at war with Venezuela.”
Russia’s foreign ministry condemned what it called a U.S. “act of armed aggression” against Venezuela in a statement posted on its Telegram channel Saturday. The ouster of Maduro, who was backed by the Russians, comes as Trump is urging Putin to end his war on Ukraine.
“Venezuela must be guaranteed the right to determine its own destiny without any destructive, let alone military, outside intervention,” the statement said.
Similarly, China’s foreign ministry in a statement condemned the U.S. operation, saying it violates international law and Venezuela’s sovereignty.
Capture follows months of pressure
The operation was the culmination of a push inside the administration led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other like-minded foes of Maduro who have been urging Trump to take action against the Venezuelan leader for years.
In south Florida — the epicenter of the Venezuelan diaspora opposition to Maduro that has influenced Rubio’s thinking — Saturday’s operation was cheered as an era-changing moment for democracy.
Rep. Carlos Gimenez, a Florida Republican, said he had spoken to Rubio and thanked Trump for having “changed the course of history in our hemisphere. Our country & the world are safer for it,” he wrote on X, comparing Maduro’s extradition to the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Rubio took the moment to send a warning to Cuba, another U.S. adversary in the Caribbean and ally of the Maduro government. “If I lived in Havana, and I was in the government, I’d be concerned — at least a little bit,” Rubio said.
Trump: Venezuela has no chance without his intervention
Maduro had sought a pathway to exit from power while saving face.
Venezuelan government officials had floated a plan in which Maduro would eventually leave office, The Associated Press reported in October.
The proposal called for Maduro to step down in three years and hand over to his vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, who would complete Maduro’s six-year term that ends in January 2031. Rodriguez would not run for reelection under the plan.
But the White House had rejected the proposal because the administration questioned the legitimacy of Maduro’s rule and accused him of overseeing a narco-terrorist state.
Maduro earlier this week said Venezuela was open to negotiating an agreement with the United States to combat drug trafficking and work with Washington on promoting U.S. further investment in the Venezuelan oil industry. Trump said Maduro was recently offered chances to surrender but declined.
Rubio held a long phone conversation on Saturday with Rodriguez, Trump said. In an address to the nation, she demanded the U.S. free Maduro but left open the possibility of dialogue with Trump.
“If we just left, it has zero chance of ever coming back. We’ll run it properly. We’ll run it professionally,” Trump said. “We’ll have the greatest oil companies in the world going in, invest billions and billions of dollars. … And the biggest beneficiary are going to be the people of Venezuela.”
Venezuela’s opposition says the rightful president is the exiled politician Edmundo González, an ally of opposition leader Maria Corina Machado.
Trump said he wasn’t ready to commit to a certain leader but pledged his administration has to remain “very involved” in Venezuela.
“We can’t take a chance of letting somebody else run it — just take over where (Maduro) left,” Trump said.
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AP writers Darlene Superville in Palm Beach, Fla., Matthew Lee in Washington, Kanis Leung in Hong Kong, Sylvie Corbet in Paris, and Elise Morton in London contributed reporting.