'No election, rebuild country's energy infrastructure': Trump's plan for Venezuela
What's the story
United States President Donald Trump has clarified that the country is not at war with Venezuela. In an exclusive interview with NBC News, he said, "No, we're not... We're at war with people that sell drugs." The statement comes days after US forces captured Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and arrested him on charges including narco-terrorism conspiracy and cocaine importation conspiracy.
Reconstruction plans
Trump outlines plans for Venezuela's future
Trump also spoke about the future of Venezuela, saying no elections would be held in the next 30 days. He stressed on the need to fix the country first before holding elections. "We have to fix the country first. You can't have an election," Trump said about holding an election in the next month. "No, it's going to take a period of time. We have—we have to nurse the country back to health."
Oil
US may subsidize oil companies
Furthermore, Trump said the US may subsidize oil companies to rebuild Venezuela's energy infrastructure, a project he estimated could take less than 18 months. "I think we can do it in less time than that, but it'll be a lot of money," he said. "A tremendous amount of money will have to be spent and the oil companies will spend it, and then they'll get reimbursed by us or through revenue," he told NBC.
Oversight team
Key US officials to oversee Venezuela's involvement
Trump has appointed a team of US officials to oversee America's involvement in Venezuela. The group includes Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, deputy White House chief of staff Stephen Miller and Vice President JD Vance. He said the decision-making authority rests with him alone. "It's a group of all. They have all expertise, different expertise," he said about his team.
Political backlash
Maduro pleads not guilty
Trump's comments came just a couple of hours after Maduro was arraigned in New York. He, along with his wife, was seized from a compound in the capital city of Caracas in the early hours of Saturday morning during a raid by US special forces and law enforcement officials. Maduro has pleaded not guilty, insisting that he is still the leader of his country even as Vice President Delcy Rodríguez was sworn in Monday as his successor.