Trump warns new Venezuelan chief as Maduro set to seem in courtroom

[ad_1] <img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/9fbd/live/154f04c0-e9c3-11f0-a8dc-93c15fe68710.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/9fbd/live/154f04c0-e9c3-11f0-a8dc-93c15fe68710.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/9fbd/live/154f04c0-e9c3-11f0-a8dc-93c15fe68710.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/9fbd/live/154f04c0-e9c3-11f0-a8dc-93c15fe68710.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/9fbd/live/154f04c0-e9c3-11f0-a8dc-93c15fe68710.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/9fbd/live/154f04c0-e9c3-11f0-a8dc-93c15fe68710.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/9fbd/live/154f04c0-e9c3-11f0-a8dc-93c15fe68710.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/9fbd/live/154f04c0-e9c3-11f0-a8dc-93c15fe68710.jpg.webp" loading="eager" alt="Reuters Donald Trump stands in front of a blue background and speaks at a microphone. He is wearing a black suit, white shirt and blue tie. " class="sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA"/> Reuters Donald Trump has warned Venezuela's new chief Delcy Rodríguez she may "pay a really large value, most likely greater than Maduro" if she "does not do what's proper".

His feedback to US journal The Atlantic got here because the nation's deposed president Nicolás Maduro was set to seem in a New York courtroom on Monday.

The US accuses Maduro, who's charged with drug trafficking and weapons offences, of operating a "narco-terrorist" regime, a declare he denies.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has insisted the US is just not at warfare with Venezuela, after air strikes in Caracas on Saturday led to Maduro and his spouse being taken into custody and transported to the US.

Some Democratic lawmakers stated the operation was an "act of warfare".

In an interview with The Atlantic on Sunday, Trump stated of Rodríguez: "If she does not do what's proper, she goes to pay a really large value, most likely greater than Maduro."

He added that for Venezuela,"Regime change, something you need to name it, is best than what you could have proper now. Cannot get any worse".

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/32b8/live/434dba00-e8d9-11f0-b67b-690eb873de1b.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/32b8/live/434dba00-e8d9-11f0-b67b-690eb873de1b.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/32b8/live/434dba00-e8d9-11f0-b67b-690eb873de1b.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/32b8/live/434dba00-e8d9-11f0-b67b-690eb873de1b.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/32b8/live/434dba00-e8d9-11f0-b67b-690eb873de1b.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/32b8/live/434dba00-e8d9-11f0-b67b-690eb873de1b.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/32b8/live/434dba00-e8d9-11f0-b67b-690eb873de1b.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/32b8/live/434dba00-e8d9-11f0-b67b-690eb873de1b.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Donald Trump Nicolás Maduro shown after his arrest, wearing headphones and a blindfold, grey zipped jumper" class="sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA"/> Donald Trump Trump posted an image of Maduro on board the USS Iwo Jima after his arrest

On Saturday, Trump had vowed the US would "run" the nation till "a secure and correct and considered transition" was attainable.

Trump additionally promised US oil corporations would transfer into the nation to repair infrastructure "and begin earning profits for the nation".

Regardless of the US president's claims, Maduro's allies stay in cost.

The Cuban authorities has stated 32 "courageous Cuban combatants" died when US forces attacked and captured Maduro and his spouse. Cuba - a longstanding socialist ally of Maduro - has introduced two days of nationwide mourning.

In a number of TV interviews on Sunday morning, Rubio defended the US's army operation in Venezuela, stressing the motion didn't imply the US is at warfare with the South American nation.

"We're at warfare towards drug trafficking organisations. That is not a warfare towards Venezuela," Rubio informed NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday morning.

The secretary of state additionally informed CBS that if Venezuela does not "make the precise selections", the US "will retain a number of levers of leverage to make sure that our pursuits are protected".

That features the "quarantine" the US has positioned on Venezuela's oil, he stated.

"We will decide every little thing by what they do, and we will see what they do," he added.

Trump additionally threatened Venezuela's neighbour Colombia, in feedback to reporters aboard Air Power One.

He didn't rule out army motion towards Colombia, saying "it sounds good to me", and known as Colombian President Gustavo Petro "a sick man".

"Colombia may be very sick, too, run by a sick man, who likes making cocaine and promoting it to the US, and he is not going to be doing it very lengthy," Trump stated.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/a5e5/live/ad6fc840-e9b2-11f0-a8dc-93c15fe68710.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/a5e5/live/ad6fc840-e9b2-11f0-a8dc-93c15fe68710.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/a5e5/live/ad6fc840-e9b2-11f0-a8dc-93c15fe68710.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/a5e5/live/ad6fc840-e9b2-11f0-a8dc-93c15fe68710.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/a5e5/live/ad6fc840-e9b2-11f0-a8dc-93c15fe68710.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/a5e5/live/ad6fc840-e9b2-11f0-a8dc-93c15fe68710.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/a5e5/live/ad6fc840-e9b2-11f0-a8dc-93c15fe68710.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/a5e5/live/ad6fc840-e9b2-11f0-a8dc-93c15fe68710.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="AFP via Getty Images Armed officers stand in front of Department of Justice detention center" class="sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA"/> AFP by way of Getty Photos Armed cops stand in entrance of the Metropolitan Detention facility within the Brooklyn borough of New York, the place ousted president Nicolás Maduro is being held.

Maduro, who leads the United Socialist Celebration of Venezuela and has been in energy since 2013, has continuously been accused of repressing opposition teams and silencing dissent in Venezuela, at occasions with using violence.

He's broadly seen by opponents inside his nation in addition to by overseas governments as having illegitimately received Venezuela's 2024 election.

Venezuela's left-wing chief and his spouse, Cilia Flores, had been captured at their compound and flown to the US, as a part of a dramatic particular forces operation within the early hours of Saturday that additionally noticed strikes on army bases.

The couple have since been charged with weapon and drug offences and are set to seem at a courtroom in New York on Monday.

Maduro has denied being a cartel chief and has accused the US of utilizing its "warfare on medication" as an excuse to attempt to depose him and get its palms on Venezuela's oil.

Whereas US officers have stated that no American troops had been harmed within the assaults, Venezuela's Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino stated a "massive half" of Maduro's safety crew and "troopers and harmless civilians" had been killed within the US operation.

When requested why congressional authorisation wasn't sought earlier than the US operation in Venezuela, Rubio informed ABC it "wasn't crucial as a result of this wasn't an invasion".

He described it as a "regulation enforcement operation", and stated Maduro was arrested on the bottom by FBI brokers.

You possibly can't notify Congress of an operation like this as a result of "it can leak", he added.

Maduro's vice chairman Delcy Rodríguez is now the interim president after being sworn in by the nation's Supreme Court docket. The nation's army has additionally given its backing to her. She can be sworn in as president on Monday in Caracas, at 08:00 native time (12:00 GMT).

Chatting with US media retailers, Rubio was requested if the US recognises Rodríguez because the professional president of Venezuela.

He answered that "this isn't concerning the professional president" because the US doesn't recognise the regime as professional.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/5b45/live/972c44b0-e894-11f0-b4b3-f5118369b77f.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/5b45/live/972c44b0-e894-11f0-b4b3-f5118369b77f.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/5b45/live/972c44b0-e894-11f0-b4b3-f5118369b77f.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/5b45/live/972c44b0-e894-11f0-b4b3-f5118369b77f.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/5b45/live/972c44b0-e894-11f0-b4b3-f5118369b77f.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/5b45/live/972c44b0-e894-11f0-b4b3-f5118369b77f.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/5b45/live/972c44b0-e894-11f0-b4b3-f5118369b77f.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/5b45/live/972c44b0-e894-11f0-b4b3-f5118369b77f.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="AFP via Getty Images Fuerte Tiuna, one of Venezuela's largest military bases was hit

" class="sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA"/> AFP by way of Getty Photos Fuerte Tiuna, one in every of Venezuela's largest army bases was hit in Caracas on Saturday

Some Democratic lawmakers have condemned the administration's actions.

Home Minority Chief Hakeem Jeffries stated the secretive army operation, which was performed with out approval from Congress, "was not merely a narcotics operation".

"It was an act of warfare," Jeffries informed NBC's Meet the Press.

"This was a army motion involving Delta Power, involving the military, apparently involving hundreds of troops, involving no less than 150 army plane, maybe involving dozens of ships off the coast of Venezuela and South America."

Jim Himes, essentially the most senior Democrat on the Home intelligence committee, informed CBS Face the Nation he had had "zero outreach" from the Trump administration, including "no Democrat that I am conscious of has had any outreach".

In an interview with ABC This Week, Senate Minority Chief Chuck Schumer questioned the legality of the US operation.

Schumer stated that whereas he believes Maduro is a horrible particular person, "You do not deal with lawlessness with different lawlessness".

"We've realized by the years when America tries to do regime change and nation constructing on this method, the American individuals pay the value in each blood and in {dollars}," Schumer stated.

He added that Trump had deserted his marketing campaign promise of "no extra limitless wars".

Each Schumer and Jeffries vowed to help a decision that, if handed in each homes, would prohibit Trump from taking any additional motion in Venezuela with out Congressional approval.

In a joint assertion, the governments of Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Uruguay and Spain stated the US's army actions "represent an especially harmful precedent for peace and regional safety and endanger the civilian inhabitants".

They stated they needed an answer to the Venezuela scenario to come back from peaceable means similar to dialogue and negotiation.

Additionally they expressed concern about exterior management that's "incompatible with worldwide regulation" and "threatens the political, financial, and social stability of the area".