US oversight of Venezuela could last years, Trump says

President Donald Trump said the United States could monitor Venezuela and control its oil revenue for years.

During what the New York Times described as a wide-ranging, two-hour interview, the newspaper said Trump also eliminated threats to take military action against Venezuela’s neighbor Colombia.

Trump invited Colombia’s leftist leader, whom he had previously called a “sick man”, to Washington.

Trump said “only time will tell” how long the United States will monitor Venezuela.

Asked by the newspaper whether this period would be three months, six months, a year or longer, Trump said, “I would say much longer.”

“We’re going to rebuild this very profitably,” Trump said of Venezuela, where he sent troops to capture President Nicolas Maduro in a night raid on January 3.

“We will use oil and we will buy oil. We will lower oil prices and give Venezuela the money they desperately need.”

Trump said the United States “gets along very well” with the government of interim president Delcy Rodriguez, who has long been a Maduro loyalist and served as the ousted leader’s vice president.

The Times stated that “Trump refused to answer questions about why he decided not to hand power in Venezuela to the opposition, which Washington had previously viewed as the legitimate winner of the 2024 elections.”

Trump on Tuesday unveiled a plan to refine and sell up to 50 million barrels of Venezuelan oil trapped in Venezuela under a U.S. blockade.

He declined to comment when asked if he had spoken to Rodriguez personally.

“But Marco talks to him all the time,” he said, referring to Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

“I will say that we are in constant communication with him and the management.”

The Times said that during the telephone conversation between Trump and Colombian President Gustavo Petro, its reporters were allowed to attend the meeting, provided that the content of the conversation was off the record.

Trump said in his post on social media: “It was a great honor to speak with Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who called to explain the drug situation and other disagreements we are having. I appreciated his call and tone and look forward to meeting him in the near future.”

Petro described his first meeting with Trump as cordial.

On Sunday, Trump had threatened to take military action against Colombia, calling Petro “a sick man who likes to make cocaine and sell it to the USA, and he won’t be doing it for a very long time.”

The Times said Trump’s phone call with Petro lasted about an hour and “appeared to dispel the immediate threat of any U.S. military intervention.”

Trump said the US intends to “rule” Venezuela.

US officials have stated that their plan for now is to exert influence without military occupation.

Venezuela, which has the world’s largest proven oil reserves, has been impoverished in recent years as eight million people fled abroad in one of the world’s largest migration crises.

Washington and the Venezuelan opposition have long blamed corruption, mismanagement and brutality by the ruling Socialist Party.

Maduro blamed US sanctions for the economic damage.

The United States should control Venezuela’s oil sales and revenues indefinitely to revive the country’s oil industry and rebuild its economy, several senior U.S. officials said Wednesday.

Trump will meet with the heads of major oil companies at the White House on Friday to discuss ways to increase Venezuela’s oil production.