Rubio to warn of military action if Venezuela strays from US goals

Secretary of State Marco Rubio plans on Wednesday to warn that the Trump administration is ready to take new military action against Venezuela if the country’s interim leadership strays from U.S. expectations.

In prepared testimony for a hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Rubio says the U.S. is not at war with Venezuela and that its interim leaders are cooperating, but he notes that the Trump administration would not rule out using additional force if needed following a raid to capture then-President Nicolás Maduro early this month.

“We are prepared to use force to ensure maximum cooperation if other methods fail,” Rubio will say, according to his prepared opening statement released Tuesday by the State Department. ”It is our hope that this will not prove necessary, but we will never shy away from our duty to the American people and our mission in this hemisphere.”

As he often is called to do, Rubio, a former Florida senator, will aim to sell one of President Donald Trump’s more contentious priorities to former colleagues in Congress. With the Republican administration’s foreign policy gyrating among the Western Hemisphere, Europe and the Middle East, Rubio also may be called to smooth alarm that has emerged in his own party lately about efforts like Trump’s demand to annex Greenland.

In the hearing focused on Venezuela, Rubio will defend Trump’s decisions to remove Maduro to face drug trafficking charges in the U.S., continue deadly military strikes on boats suspected of smuggling drugs and seize sanctioned tankers carrying Venezuelan oil, according to the prepared remarks. He will again reject allegations that Trump is violating the Constitution by taking such actions.

“There is no war against Venezuela, and we did not occupy a country,” he will say, according to the prepared remarks. “There are no U.S. troops on the ground. This was an operation to aid law enforcement.”

Maduro, who has pleaded not guilty to federal drug trafficking charges in a U.S. court, has defiantly declared himself “the president of my country” and protested his capture.

Congress has not curtailed Trump on Venezuela

Congressional Democrats have condemned Trump’s moves as exceeding the authority of the executive branch, while most Republicans have supported them as a legitimate exercise of presidential power.

Idaho Republican Sen. Jim Risch, the chairman of the committee, planned to open the hearing by lauding Trump and Rubio for making Americans safer with the military actions in and around Venezuela and saying they were legal.

“These actions were limited in scope, short in duration, and done to protect U.S. interests and citizens,” Risch will say, according to his prepared remarks released by the committee. “What President Trump has done in Venezuela is the definition of the president’s Article II constitutional authorities as commander-in-chief.”

New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the committee, was taking the opposite tack, questioning whether the operation to remove Maduro was worth it considering most of his former top aides and lieutenants are still running the country.

“The U.S. naval blockade around Venezuela and the raid have already cost American taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars … and yet the Maduro regime is still in power,” she plans to say, according to her prepared opening statement.

The House narrowly defeated a war powers act resolution that would have directed Trump to remove U.S. troops from Venezuela. As Rubio will argue, the administration says there are no U.S. troops on the ground in the South American nation despite a large military buildup in the region.

Democrats had argued that the resolution was necessary after the U.S. raid to capture Maduro and because Trump has stated plans to control the country’s oil industry for years to come.

The pushback has begun in the courts, too, as the families of two Trinidadian nationals killed in a Trump administration boat strike filed what is thought to be the first wrongful-death case arising from the campaign. Three dozen strikes on boats in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean have killed at least 126 people since September.

The US takes steps to normalize ties while still issuing warnings

While keeping pressure on those the Trump administration dubs “narcotraffickers” without providing evidence, U.S. officials also are working to normalize ties with Venezuelan acting President Delcy Rodríguez. Nonetheless, Rubio will make clear in his testimony that she has little choice but to comply with Trump’s demands.

“Rodríguez is well aware of the fate of Maduro; it is our belief that her own self-interest aligns with advancing our key objectives,” Rubio will say, noting that they include opening Venezuela’s energy sector to U.S. companies, providing preferential access to production, using oil revenue to purchase American goods, and ending subsidized oil exports to Cuba.

Rodríguez, who previously served as Maduro’s vice president, on Tuesday said her government and the Trump administration “have established respectful and courteous channels of communication.” During televised remarks, Rodríguez said she is working with Trump and Rubio to set “a working agenda.”

So far, she has appeared to acquiesce to Trump’s demands and to release prisoners jailed by the government under Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Chávez. On Monday, the head of a Venezuelan human rights group said 266 political prisoners had been freed since Jan. 8.

Trump had praised the releases, saying on social media that he would “like to thank the leadership of Venezuela for agreeing to this powerful humanitarian gesture!”

In a key step to the restoration of diplomatic relations between the two countries, the State Department notified Congress just this week that it intends to begin sending additional diplomatic and support personnel to Caracas to prepare for the possible reopening of the U.S. Embassy there.

It was the first formal notice of the administration’s intent to reopen the embassy, which shuttered in 2019. Fully normalizing ties, however, would require the U.S. to revoke its decision recognizing the Venezuelan parliament elected in 2015 as the country’s legitimate government.

Rubio also planned to meet Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado later Wednesday at the State Department.

Machado went into hiding after Maduro was declared the winner of the 2024 presidential election despite ample credible evidence to the contrary. She reemerged in December to pick up her Nobel Peace Prize in Norway. After Maduro was ousted, she traveled to Washington. In a meeting with Trump, she presented him with her Peace Prize medal, an extraordinary gesture given that Trump has effectively sidelined her.

美国国务卿马可·卢比奥计划于周三发出警告，如果委内瑞拉临时领导层偏离美国的预期，特朗普政府准备对委内瑞拉采取新的军事行动。

在为参议院外交关系委员会听证会准备的证词中，卢比奥表示，美国没有与委内瑞拉交战，委内瑞拉的临时领导人正在合作，但他指出，在本月初突袭抓捕时任总统尼古拉斯·马杜罗之后，特朗普政府不排除在必要时使用更多武力。

根据国务院周二发布的鲁比奥事先准备好的开场白，他将表示：“如果其他方法无效，我们准备动用武力以确保最大限度的合作。我们希望这种情况不会发生，但我们绝不会回避我们对美国人民的责任以及我们在这个半球的使命。”

正如他经常被要求做的那样，这位前佛罗里达州参议员鲁比奥将试图向国会的前同事们推销特朗普总统一项颇具争议的优先事项。由于共和党政府的外交政策在西半球、欧洲和中东之间摇摆不定，鲁比奥可能还需要安抚他所在党派近期出现的担忧，这些担忧针对的是特朗普要求吞并格陵兰岛等举措。

在以委内瑞拉问题为主题的听证会上，卢比奥将为特朗普的决定辩护，包括将马杜罗驱逐出境，使其在美国面临毒品走私指控；继续对涉嫌走私毒品的船只进行致命的军事打击；以及扣押被制裁的、运载委内瑞拉石油的油轮。他将再次驳斥有关特朗普采取这些行动违反宪法的指控。

根据事先准备好的发言稿，他将表示：“我们没有对委内瑞拉发动战争，也没有占领该国。地面上没有美军。这是一次协助执法部门的行动。”

马杜罗在美国法庭对联邦毒品走私指控拒不不认罪，他公然宣称自己是“我国总统”，并抗议被捕。

国会并未限制特朗普在委内瑞拉问题上的立场。

国会民主党人谴责特朗普的举动超越了行政部门的权限，而大多数共和党人则支持这些举动，认为这是总统权力的合法行使。

委员会主席、爱达荷州共和党参议员吉姆·里施计划在听证会开始时赞扬特朗普和卢比奥通过在委内瑞拉及其周边地区的军事行动使美国人更加安全，并称这些行动是合法的。

根据委员会公布的里施的发言稿，他将表示：“这些行动范围有限、持续时间短，而且是为了保护美国的利益和公民。特朗普总统在委内瑞拉的所作所为，正是总统作为三军统帅的第二条宪法权力的体现。”

新罕布什尔州参议员珍妮·沙欣是该委员会的首席民主党人，她采取了相反的策略，质疑推翻马杜罗的行动是否值得，因为马杜罗的大多数前高级助手和副手仍在掌管这个国家。

根据她准备好的开场白，她计划说：“美国对委内瑞拉的海上封锁和突袭已经花费了美国纳税人数亿美元……然而马杜罗政权仍然掌权。”

众议院以微弱优势否决了一项战争权力法案决议，该决议原本旨在指示特朗普从委内瑞拉撤出美军。正如卢比奥将要指出的那样，尽管美国在该地区进行了大规模军事集结，但政府声称目前并没有美军驻扎在这个南美国家。

民主党人认为，在美国突袭抓捕马杜罗之后，以及特朗普已表示计划在未来几年控制该国的石油工业之后，这项决议是必要的。

这场反击也已蔓延至法庭。两名在特朗普政府船只袭击中丧生的特立尼达和多巴哥公民的家属提起诉讼，这被认为是该行动引发的首例非正常死亡诉讼。自去年9月以来，加勒比海和东太平洋发生的36起船只袭击事件已造成至少126人死亡。

美国在采取措施实现关系正常化的同时，仍然发出警告。

在继续向那些被特朗普政府贴上“毒贩”标签却拿不出证据的人施压的同时，美国官员也在努力与委内瑞拉代理总统德尔西·罗德里格斯实现关系正常化。尽管如此，卢比奥将在证词中明确表示，她别无选择，只能服从特朗普的要求。

“罗德里格斯非常清楚马杜罗的命运；我们相信，她自身的利益与推进我们的关键目标相一致，”鲁比奥将表示，并指出这些目标包括向美国公司开放委内瑞拉的能源部门，提供生产优惠准入，用石油收入购买美国商品，以及停止对古巴的石油出口补贴。

曾任马杜罗副总统的罗德里格斯周二表示，她的政府和特朗普政府“已经建立了相互尊重和礼貌的沟通渠道”。罗德里格斯在电视讲话中表示，她正在与特朗普和卢比奥合作制定“切实可行的议程”。

到目前为止，她似乎已经默许了特朗普的要求，并释放了马杜罗及其前任乌戈·查韦斯政府关押的囚犯。周一，委内瑞拉一家人权组织的负责人表示，自1月8日以来，已有266名政治犯获释。

特朗普对释放委内瑞拉人表示赞赏，他在社交媒体上说：“我要感谢委内瑞拉领导人同意这一强有力的人道主义姿态！”

为恢复两国的外交关系，美国国务院本周通知国会，计划开始向加拉加斯增派外交和后勤人员，为美国驻加拉加斯大使馆可能重新开放做准备。

这是美国政府首次正式宣布有意重开于 2019 年关闭的美国大使馆。然而，要实现关系完全正常化，美国需要撤销其承认 2015 年当选的委内瑞拉议会为该国合法政府的决定。

鲁比奥还计划于周三晚些时候在国务院会见委内瑞拉反对派领导人玛丽亚·科琳娜·马查多。

尽管有大量可信的证据表明马杜罗在2024年总统大选中落败，但马查多仍被宣布获胜，此后她便销声匿迹。12月，她重返公众视野，前往挪威领取诺贝尔和平奖。马杜罗下台后，她前往华盛顿。在与特朗普的会晤中，她向特朗普赠送了和平奖章，考虑到特朗普实际上已经将她边缘化，这一举动实属罕见。