Trump plans a military ‘quarantine’ of Venezuela’s oil to strong-arm Maduro’s successor

Marco Rubio says Donald Trump will use an ‘oil quarantine’ to ensure Venezuela complies with US orders following the ouster of leader Nicolas Maduro.

The secretary of state told CBS News that a U.S. quarantine would essentially deny entry and exit to oil tankers, which are already sanctioned to hold Caracas accountable.

Rubio insisted at a press conference following Maduro’s capture that the US would not ‘run’ Venezuela like an Iraq-style invasion like Trump.

“And that’s the kind of control the President was pointing to when he said that,” the secretary of state said after Trump announced that Rubio and Pete Hegseth were responsible for Venezuela.

‘We are continuing the lockdown and expect to see changes not only in the way the oil industry is run for the benefit of the public, but also in stopping drug trafficking.’

He added that naval officers would enforce the quarantine and that their work promised to ‘cripple the way the regime generates revenue, you know.’

Trump’s early comments earned Rubio the nickname ‘Venezuela Governor General’ From Washington Post.

The move also suggested that he would take on another role, having already served as Secretary of State, National Security Advisor, head of the disbanded USAID, and U.S. Archivist.

Rubio suggested to NBC News that the press was too “fixated” on supporting him and Hegseth.

Captured Venezuelan leader Maduro was sent to New York over the weekend

Their job in Venezuela is not ‘running; ‘to carry out the policy, the policy related to it.’

The secretary instead promised that only the United States would remain in control of the situation.

‘What we are running for is the direction in which this will go,’ the Foreign Secretary said when pressed by ABC’s This Week host George Stephanopoulos.

Rubio added: ‘This means that their economy cannot progress until conditions are favorable to me that are in the national interest of the United States and the interest of the Venezuelan people. That’s what we plan to do.’

‘So leverage continues, leverage continues, and we expect that to lead to results here.’

He said the US would ‘set the conditions’ so that Venezuela would no longer be a drug state.

Stephanopoulos, a senior figure in Democratic President Bill Clinton’s White House, repeatedly pressed Rubio about what legal authority the United States has to remove Maduro from his country and who the United States sees as the country’s current leader.

‘So is the USA ruling Venezuela now?’ he asked.

‘When the President was asked yesterday who would govern Venezuela, he said it was you, he said it was the Minister of Defense, he said it was the Chief of General Staff. ‘Are you running Venezuela right now?’ Stephanopoulos asked.

Following the dramatic overnight arrest of Maduro on Saturday, President Trump said Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth would be accused of controlling the country.

Rubio, who made rounds on all three major television morning news programs on Sunday, told ABC News that the United States remains in control of the situation.

Rubio did not explicitly answer the question.

‘George, I explained once again that the power we have here is the power of quarantine. “This is a War Department operation where law enforcement is working with the Coast Guard in some cases to seize these boats,” the Secretary of State said.

Rubio said he is both “intricately involved in these policies” and “intricately involved in moving forward.”

“The person who was there before and who was not the legitimate president of the country was unfortunately someone we could not work with,” he added.

Following the dramatic overnight arrest of leader Nicolás Maduro on Saturday, Trump said Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth would be accused of controlling the country.

“Well, it will be largely led by the people who have been behind me for a while,” Trump said at a news conference at Mar-a-Lago. ‘We will make this work.’

In November 2024, under the Biden Administration, the US recognized Venezuelan opposition candidate Edmundo González as the ‘president-elect’ of the South American nation, despite Maduro claiming to have won the July election.

González sought asylum in Spain as part of a deal with the Maduro government.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was aboard the USS Iwo Jima after the US military captured him on January 3

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and President Donald Trump watch a remote broadcast of the US military’s mission to capture Maduro at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida

Following Maduro’s capture on Saturday, Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez was sworn in.

Trump had initially heralded him as Maduro’s replacement.

“He just talked to him,” Trump said of Rubio. ‘And he’s actually willing to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again.’

However, in his public statements, he called Maduro the country’s “only president” and criticized the United States for its “barbarism.”

Rubio prodded Rodríguez on whether he is leading Venezuela in the eyes of the United States.

‘Actually, this has nothing to do with the legitimate president. “We do not believe that this regime will be legitimate through elections,” Rubio replied.

‘But today we understand that there are people in Venezuela who can really make change,’ he continued. ‘Ultimately the legitimacy of systems of government will emerge through a transition period and real elections that they did not have.’

At the same time, Rubio also downplayed Rodríguez’s negative comments about the United States.

“We’re not going to decide to move forward just based on what’s said in press conferences,” Rubio said. ‘There are many different reasons why people go on television and say things in these countries; Especially 15 or 12 hours after the former head of the regime was now handcuffed and headed for New York.’