(WASHINGTON) — Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday laid out what he called a threefold process for Venezuela’s future, with the White House saying it has “maximum leverage” over the South American nation in the interim.
Since the dramatic capture of dictator Nicolas Maduro by U.S. forces, questions have swirled about who is running Venezuela and how.
President Donald Trump said earlier this week the U.S. was “in charge.” But Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodriguez pushed back on Tuesday that the Venezuelan government is in control and “no one else.”
ABC News Senior Political Correspondent Rachel Scott pressed White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Wednesday, “Which one is it?”
“We obviously have maximum leverage over the interim authorities in Venezuela right now,” Leavitt said. “And the president has made it very clear that this is a country within the United States — the Western Hemisphere, close by the United States, that is no longer going to be sending illegal drugs to the United States of America. It’s no longer going to be sending and trafficking illegal people and criminal cartels to kill American citizens, as they have in the past. And the president is fully deploying his peace-through-strength foreign policy agenda.”
“So, we’re continuing to be in close coordination with the interim authorities. And their decisions are going to continue to be dictated by the United States of America,” Leavitt added.
Leavitt also touted what she called a “historic energy deal” between the U.S. and Venezuela after Trump announced on Tuesday night that Venezuela will turn over 30 to 50 million barrels of sanctioned oil to the U.S.
Sources told ABC News that those barrels represent the first tranche to be handed over to U.S. control. The Trump administration intends to oversee the sale of Venezuela’s oil indefinitely and some sanctions against Venezuela will be lifted, two sources familiar with the plan told ABC News.
Rubio, speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill after a classified briefing with senators on Venezuela, echoed what he called “tremendous leverage and control” the U.S. now exerts over Caracas.
“We are in the midst right now, and in fact about to execute on a deal, to take all the oil — they have oil that is stuck in Venezuela, they can’t move it because of our quarantine, because it’s sanctioned,” he said.
Rubio pointed to a tanker that was captured in the Caribbean Wednesday by U.S. forces and said Venezuela’s interim leaders are cooperating because they want to make money off of it.
“They want that oil that was seized to be part of this deal. They understand that the only way they can move oil and generate revenue and not have economic collapse is if they cooperate and work with the United States. And that’s what we see are going to happen,” Rubio said.
Rubio also described a threefold process going forward with regards to the U.S. role in Venezuela.
The first phase, he said, was stabilization of the country.
The second involves “recovery” by ensuring that American, western and other oil companies have access to the Venezuelan oil market in a way that’s fair, Rubio said. He added that this phase would include offering amnesty to opposition forces in Venezuela, allowing for people to be released from prisons and brought back into their home country to “rebuild civil society.”
The third phase is the “transition” of the Venezuelan government, Rubio said. He didn’t offer any details as to what that would include, but said he described to senators the administration’s thinking in “great detail.”
Neither Rubio nor the White House provided a specific timeline on what’s next.
“In the end, it will be up to the Venezuelan people to transform their country,” Rubio said.
“I understand that in this cycle, in the society we now live in, everyone wants instant outcomes. They want it to happen overnight. It’s not going to work that way. But work — we’re already seeing progress with this new deal that’s been announced and more deals to follow. You are already seeing how the leverage the United States have over those interim authorities is going to begin to lead to positive outcomes.”
Pressed on when elections may be held in Venezuela, Leavitt maintained Trump’s assertion that it’s “too early” to set a date.
“So, I will reiterate what the president has said a few times now to all of you, which is that it’s too premature and too early to dictate a timetable for elections in Venezuela right now,” Leavitt said.
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