US President Donald Trump’s administration said Wednesday it will dictate decisions to Venezuela’s interim leaders and control the country’s oil sales “indefinitely” after toppling Nicolas Maduro.
Trump’s assertion of US dominance over the oil-rich South American country comes despite its interim leader, Delcy Rodriguez, saying there is no foreign power governing Caracas.
“There is a stain on our relations such as had never occurred in our history,” Rodriguez said about the US attack to depose her predecessor.
US special forces snatched President Maduro and his wife on Saturday in a lightning raid and whisked them to New York to face trial on drug charges, underscoring what Trump has called the “Donroe Doctine” of US dominance over its backyard.
“We obviously have maximum leverage over the interim authorities in Venezuela right now,” following the capture operation, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told a briefing.