Rubio: We’re determined to change the situation in Venezuela
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that his country is determined to change the situation in Venezuela, indicating that the current state of the Venezuelan regime is unacceptable to Washington.
This came in remarks he made on Friday during a press conference held at the headquarters of the State Department in Washington.
Rubio added that Venezuela’s actions pose a clear threat to US national interests, stressing that they will continue to take strong steps to prevent it.
He accused the Venezuelan government of collaborating with terrorist organizations that are contrary to US national interests, and engaging with them in activities that threaten US national security.
“Our goal is to change this dynamic… The United States doesn’t consider the government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to be legitimate”.
In response to a question about Russia’s role in Venezuela, Rubio said they were expecting theoretical support from Moscow for Caracas, while noting that Russia is currently preoccupied with the Ukraine war.
US President Donald Trump said on Friday that he doesn’t rule out the possibility of a military operation against Venezuela, after ordering the seizure of all sanctioned Venezuelan oil tankers.
On Tuesday, Trump announced that he had ordered a blockade of all sanctioned Venezuelan oil tankers, following his announcement on December 11 that they had seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela for good reason and would keep it.
Trump has previously said the United States may carry out ground attacks against Venezuela, and that these attacks will begin soon.
Venezuelan officials have described the US seizure of an oil tanker off the country’s coast as open theft and have said they will take the case to international courts.
Tensions have recently escalated between the United States and Venezuela, and in August Trump issued an executive order to increase the use of the military in the name of fighting drug cartels in Latin America.
In this context, Washington announced the dispatch of warships and submarines off the coast of Venezuela, while the US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said that the army is ready for operations, including regime change in Venezuela.
In response, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro announced the mobilization of 4.5 million people in Venezuela and readiness to repel any possible attack.
The US military’s attacks on boats in the Caribbean and Pacific, allegedly smuggling drugs and directly targeting people on board, have sparked a debate about extrajudicial killings in the international community.
