Trump insists ‘we’re in charge’ as Rubio says US will press change in Venezuela

Protesters took to the streets in Caracas after the US’s extraordinary move (AP)

US secretary of state Marco Rubio has suggested the United States will not govern Venezuela day-to-day other than enforcing an existing “oil quarantine” – even as Donald Trump again insisted America would be in control following the removal of leader Nicolas Maduro.

Mr Rubio’s statements seemed designed to temper concerns that the action to achieve regime change in Venezuela might lead the US into another prolonged foreign intervention or a failed attempt at nation-building.

They stood in contrast to US president Mr Trump’s claims that America would at least temporarily “run” the oil-rich nation, comments that suggested some sort of governing structure under which Caracas would be controlled by Washington.

Mr Trump reiterated on Sunday night that “we’re in charge”, while interim Venezuelan leader Delcy Rodriguez invited the Republican president “to collaborate” in a newly conciliatory stance.

“We’re going to run it, fix it,” Mr Trump said of Venezuela while aboard Air Force One en route to Washington from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.

I hope people now understand. The President of the United States is not a game player. When he tells you he's going to do something and address a problem, he means it. pic.twitter.com/bVhtqcoPWP

— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) January 3, 2026

Hours earlier, Mr Rubio offered a more nuanced take, saying the US would enforce an oil quarantine that was already in place on sanctioned tankers before Maduro was removed from power early on Saturday, and use that leverage to press policy changes in Venezuela.

“And so that’s the sort of control the president is pointing to when he says that,” Mr Rubio said on CBS’s Face The Nation.

“We continue with that quarantine, and we expect to see that there will be changes, not just in the way the oil industry is run for the benefit of the people, but also so that they stop the drug trafficking.”

Venezuela’s interim president said she seeks “respectful relations” with the US, in a shift from a previously defiant tone.

Nicholas Maduro and his wife were extracted on Saturday night (AP)

Ms Rodriguez wrote online: “We invite the US government to collaborate with us on an agenda of cooperation oriented towards shared development within the framework of international law to strengthen lasting community coexistence.”

After the US operation, she called Maduro the country’s rightful leader and urged the U.S. to release him, declaring the actions an “atrocity” and saying “history and justice will make the extremists who promoted this armed aggression pay”.

Her conciliatory message came after Mr Trump threatened that she could “pay a very big price” if she did not fall in line with US demands.

Mr Trump told reporters on Sunday night that Ms Rodriguez is “cooperating” but reiterated the threat from an earlier interview with The Atlantic.

Mr Rubio’s remarks were an attempt to temper claims by Mr Trump that the US is ‘in charge’ (AP)

He told reporters on Air Force One that he wanted her to provide “total access” to aspects of the country large and small – from major oil operations to basic infrastructure.

“We need access to the oil and to other things in their country that allow us to rebuild their country,” Mr Trump said.

Venezuela’s supreme court ruled Ms Rodriguez would be acting president earlier on Sunday.

Cuba, meanwhile, announced that 32 Cuban security officers were killed in the US operation in Venezuela, which Mr Trump acknowledged, saying: “You know, a lot of Cubans were killed yesterday.”

The Venezuelan president is due in a US court later on Monday (AP)

“There was a lot of death on the other side,” Mr Trump said. “No death on our side.”

His vow that the US will run Venezuela has sparked concerns among some Democrats and drawn unease from parts of his own Republican coalition, including an “America First” base that is opposed to foreign interventions, and from observers who recalled past nation-building efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Mr Rubio dismissed such criticism, saying Mr Trump’s intent had been misunderstood.

“The whole foreign policy apparatus thinks everything is Libya, everything is Iraq, everything is Afghanistan,” Mr Rubio said.

.@POTUS: "This isn't a country that's on the other side of the world... We're in the business of having countries around us that are viable and successful, and where the oil is allowed to freely come out... It gets the prices down. That's good for OUR country." pic.twitter.com/XoMPOXQyGB

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) January 5, 2026

“This is not the Middle East. And our mission here is very different. This is the Western Hemisphere.”

He also suggested the US would give Maduro’s subordinates now in charge time to govern, saying, “We’re going to judge everything by what they do.”

Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were extracted on Saturday night from their home in a military base in the capital city of Caracas — an act Maduro’s government called “imperialist”.

The couple face US charges of participating in a narco-terrorism conspiracy.

Maduro is due to make his first appearance on Monday in Manhattan’s federal court.

He and other Venezuelan officials were indicted in 2020 on narco-terrorism conspiracy charges, and the US justice department released a new indictment of Maduro and his wife that painted his administration as a “corrupt, illegitimate government” fuelled by a drug-trafficking operation that flooded the US with cocaine. The US government does not recognise Maduro as Venezuela’s leader.