A.G. Gancarski
Venezuela continues to be a concern for Republicans and the Donald Trump administration.
During an interview with Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Nicolás Maduro is seen as a “horrible dictator who is instilling all kinds of instability.”
And asked if Maduro “should go” and “leave,” Rubio suggested that there still is a path to remove the leader — whose election the United States disputes — from power.
“We’re going to work on that policy because I’m going to tell you something,” Rubio said. “He is allowing Iran to operate out of Venezuela. He is allowing the Chinese to operate out of Venezuela. He’s threatening his neighbors in the region. He has flooded us with gang members — flooded with these Tren de Aragua gang members that are in this country doing terrible things. Why would we want someone like that to be there?”
Though the former Senator would not “discuss publicly what our work is going to be in that regard,” he said Maduro “remains the same threat today that he was two years ago, three years ago, four years ago.”
“That’s going to have to be dealt with,” Rubio added.
How Maduro will be “dealt with” is worth watching, given conflicting statements from the administration.
Special Envoy Richard Grenell, who reportedly had been considered for Secretary of State before Rubio was selected, told the Epoch Times that the Trump administration did not want “to do regime change,” even as the administration is “clear-eyed” about Caracas.
Yet Trump posted to Truth Social that he would be “reversing the concessions that Crooked Joe Biden gave to Nicolás Maduro, of Venezuela, on the oil transaction agreement, dated November 26, 2022, and also having to do with Electoral conditions within Venezuela, which have not been met by the Maduro regime.”
“Additionally, the regime has not been transporting the violent criminals that they sent into our Country (the Good Ole’ U.S.A.) back to Venezuela at the rapid pace that they had agreed to. I am therefore ordering that the ineffective and unmet Biden “Concession Agreement” be terminated as of the March 1st option to renew,” the President posted.
