Washington – President Trump said on Saturday that the US will “run the country” of Venezuela “until we can have a safe, proper and reasonable transition” after President Nicolas Maduro was captured in a night military operation.
In a speech at Mar-a-Lago, Mr Trump said the US had carried out “an attack on Venezuela the likes of which people have not seen since World War II.” While Mr. Trump said “we are prepared to mount a second, much larger attack if we need to,” he said he does not believe in a “second wave.” He added that no US military personnel were killed.
“We are not afraid of boots on the ground,” Mr. Trump said. “But we are going to make sure that the country is run properly. We are not doing this in vain.” He added: “We're going to run it with the group and make sure it works correctly.”
Mr Trump said governing Venezuela “wouldn't cost us anything” because the US would be compensated with oil money.
“We're going to extract a tremendous amount of wealth from the ground,” he said.
Venezuela has some of the world's largest known oil reserves and was one of the founding OPECalthough its industry has suffered from years of mismanagement, corruption and sanctions. US Energy Information Administration says that despite its huge reserves, Venezuela produced just 0.8% of the world's total crude oil in 2023.
“We are going to rebuild the oil infrastructure, which will cost billions of dollars, and it will be paid for directly by the oil companies,” Mr. Trump said. “And we're going to make sure the oil flows the way it should.”
Mr Trump said the oil embargo on Venezuela remains in place for now and the US naval armada remains in position. He said the US will maintain all military options until all demands are met.
Mr Trump said Maduro's vice-president had been sworn in but the US would be present in Venezuela.
When asked to clarify whether this meant the U.S. military would have a presence in Venezuela, Trump said the military presence would be “for oil.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called the overnight operation “a large-scale joint military and law enforcement raid that was executed flawlessly.”
Trump said Maduro and his wife were flown out of Venezuela after the U.S. carried out a “large-scale strike”Calling into “Fox & Friends” Saturday morning, he said Maduro was “in a very heavily guarded fortress, really.”
The president also confirmed that Maduro was being transported to New York after Attorney General Pam Bondi said earlier in the day that Maduro had been indicted in the Southern District of New York on narcoterrorism charges. Bondi said Maduro and his wife “will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts.”
“They're going to New York,” Mr. Trump said. “They were charged in New York.”
Shortly before speaking to reporters at Mar-a-Lago late Saturday morning, Trump shared photo he said Maduro was aboard the USS Iowa Jima.
In a 2020 indictment against the Venezuelan leader, federal prosecutors alleged that Maduro and other senior Venezuelan government officials collaborated with the Colombian guerrilla group Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) to transport cocaine and weapons to the United States. Bondi shared the new indictment later Saturday morning.
The indictment, prepared by U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton, charges Maduro with conspiracy to commit narcoterrorism and import cocaine, as well as possession and conspiracy to possess “machine guns and destructive devices.” Apparently, the charges are the same as in 2020 indictment Maduro and several key aides.
Mr Trump said Maduro was in the house when he was captured and said it was “more like a fortress than a house”.
“It had steel doors, it had what they call a safe space where, you know, everything was solid steel,” he said. “He didn’t close that space. He tried to get into it, but he was pushed so quickly that he couldn't get there. We were prepared, we had, you know, massive blowtorches and everything else we needed to get through that steel, but we didn't need it. He didn't get to that part of the house.”
Mr. Trump praised the operation in Venezuela, saying he believed no American soldiers were killed.
“You know that we haven’t killed anyone, that’s amazing,” he said. “I don't think we had anyone killed, I should say, because a few guys got hurt, but they came back and should be in pretty good shape.”
The president said the United States was ready to conduct an operation in Venezuela several days ago, but was waiting for weather conditions to improve.
“We were going to do this four days ago, but the weather wasn't ideal,” Trump said. “And then all of a sudden it opened up and we said, go.”
