WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Marco Rubio plans to warn Wednesday that the Trump administration is poised to take new military action against Venezuela if the country’s interim leadership deviates from U.S. expectations.
In testimony prepared for a hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Rubio says the U.S. is not at war with Venezuela and that its interim leaders are cooperating, but he noted that the Trump administration would not rule out using more force if necessary, including a raid to capture then-President Nicolas Maduro.
“We are prepared to use force to ensure maximum cooperation if other means fail,” Rubio said, according to his prepared opening statement released by the State Department on Tuesday. “Our hope is that this will not prove necessary, but we will never back down from our duty to the American people and our mission in this hemisphere.”
As he is often called upon to do, Rubio, a former Florida senator, aimed to sell President Donald Trump’s more controversial priorities to former colleagues in Congress. With the Republican administration’s foreign policy deeply entangled in the Western Hemisphere, Europe and the Middle East, Rubio could also be called on for a smooth warning that has recently emerged in his own party about efforts such as Trump’s demand to annex Greenland.
In hearings focused on Venezuela, Rubio will defend Trump’s decision to oust Maduro to face drug-trafficking charges in the U.S., continue deadly military strikes on boats suspected of drug trafficking and seize approved tankers carrying Venezuelan oil, according to prepared remarks. He will again deny that Trump is violating the Constitution by taking these actions.
“There is no war against Venezuela, and we have not occupied any country,” he said, according to prepared remarks. “There are no US troops. This was an operation to assist law enforcement.”
Maduro, who has pleaded not guilty to federal drug-trafficking charges in a US court, has declared himself “the president of my country” and protested his capture.
Congress has not cut Trump on Venezuela
Democrats in Congress have condemned Trump’s moves as exceeding the authority of the executive branch, while most Republicans have supported them as a legitimate exercise of presidential power.
Sen. Jim Rich, Idaho Republican, chairman of the committee, planned to open the hearing by praising Trump and Rubio for keeping Americans safe with military actions in and around Venezuela, saying they were legal.
“These actions were limited in scope, short in duration, and undertaken to protect American interests and citizens,” Rich said, according to his prepared remarks released by the committee. “What President Trump has done in Venezuela is the president’s definition of Article II constitutional authority as commander-in-chief.”
New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the committee, was taking the opposite tack, questioning whether the operation to oust Maduro was appropriate given that many of his former top aides and lieutenants are still running the country.
“The U.S. naval blockade and invasion around Venezuela has cost American taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars … and still the Maduro regime is in power,” she plans to say, according to her prepared opening statement.
The House narrowly defeated a War Powers Act resolution that would have directed Trump to withdraw US troops from Venezuela. Rubio argued that the administration had no U.S. troops on the ground in the South American nation despite a large military buildup in the region.
Democrats had argued that the resolution was necessary after the US raid to capture Maduro and because Trump has outlined plans to take control of the country’s oil industry in the coming years.
The pushback has also begun in the courts after the families of two Trinidadians killed in the Trump administration’s boat strike filed what they claim is the first wrongful-death lawsuit to stem from the campaign. At least 126 people have died in three dozen attacks on boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean since September.
While the US still issues warnings, it takes steps to normalize relations
U.S. officials are also working to normalize relations with Venezuela’s acting president, Delsey Rodriguez, as the Trump administration clamps down on what it claims are “drug traffickers” without providing evidence. However, Rubio will make it clear in his testimony that he has no choice but to comply with Trump’s demands.
“Rodriguez is well aware of Maduro’s fate; it is our belief that his own interests are aligned with advancing our main objectives,” Rubio said, noting that they would open Venezuela’s energy sector to American companies, prioritize manufacturing, use oil revenues to buy American goods, and end subsidized oil exports.
Rodriguez, who previously served as Maduro’s vice president, said Tuesday that her government and the Trump administration had “established respectful and courteous channels of communication.” During televised remarks, Rodriguez said she was working with Trump and Rubio to set an “executive agenda.”
So far, he seems willing to give in to Trump’s demands and release prisoners held by governments under Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Chavez. On Monday, the head of a Venezuelan human rights group said 266 political prisoners had been released since January 8.
Trump praised the announcement, saying on social media that he “wants to thank the leadership of Venezuela for agreeing to this powerful humanitarian gesture!”
In a major step toward restoring diplomatic relations between the two countries, the State Department notified Congress just this week that it intends to begin sending additional diplomatic and support personnel to Caracas to prepare for the possible reopening of the U.S. Embassy.
It was the first formal notice of the administration’s intention to reopen the embassy, which closed in 2019. For relations to fully normalize, however, the US needs to reverse its decision to recognize Venezuela’s parliament, which it elected in 2015, as the country’s legitimate government.
Rubio planned to meet with Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado at the State Department later Wednesday.
Machado went into hiding after Maduro was declared the winner of the 2024 presidential election, despite substantial credible evidence to the contrary. She reappeared in December to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in Norway. She moved to Washington after Maduro was ousted. In a meeting with Trump, she presented him with his Peace Prize medal, an extraordinary gesture that Trump has effectively ignored.
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Associated Press writer Regina Garcia Cano in Caracas, Venezuela, contributed to this report.
