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  • Subtype: fact
    • Article presents significant development with named actors and concrete outcomes.

  • Rubio walks back Trump’s ‘r…

  • Rubio walks back Trump’s ‘run the country’ remark

  • U.S. President Donald Trump initially said the U.S. would “run” Venezuela until there was stability. Rubio appeared to walk back that statement in …

Rubio walks back Trump’s ‘run the country’ remark

U.S. President Donald Trump initially said the U.S. would “run” Venezuela until there was stability. Rubio appeared to walk back that statement in Sunday interviews, though he called the Venezuelan government currently in place illegitimate and said Washington’s goals for the country’s oil industry would drive American policy.

“We want to see Venezuela transition to be a place completely different than what it looks like today. But obviously, we don’t have the expectation that’s going to happen in the next 15 hours,” Rubio said.

Rubio said no U.S. forces were on the ground in Venezuela but did not rule out further strikes there.

Venezuela holds the world’s largest proven crude oil reserves.

A divided government, a silent vice president

Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López, flanked by the high military command, told Venezuelans that Maduro was still the rightful leader. Presidential duties, however, now belong to Rodríguez, whom the high court ordered to assume the role of interim president. Rodríguez made no public comment Sunday.

Maduro’s cadre of government officials demanded his release from custody in New York, where his first court appearance is set for Monday. State-controlled media did not air images of him handcuffed on U.S. soil; Venezuelans instead saw them on social media.

“May God give us strength for what we are experiencing. I’m sad. He is a human being,” said Nely Gutiérrez, a retiree, whose eyes welled with tears as she described seeing those images. She had walked to church only to find it closed. “They have him handcuffed, and if he is in the hands of the empire, no one can save him from there, only God, not even God. He will die there.”

Gutiérrez declined to say whether she had ever voted for Maduro, adding: “The word of God says love your enemy.”

Fear of celebrating

In the United States and some Latin American countries, Maduro’s ouster drew open celebration. In Venezuela, some supporters burned U.S. flags and held signs reading “Gringo go home.”

Others muted any anti-Maduro feelings. Construction worker Daniel Medalla, 66, said people did not dare celebrate out of fear of government repression. “We were longing for it,” Medalla said of Maduro’s exit.

Memories remain fresh of the crackdown following Venezuela’s 2024 presidential election, which Maduro claimed to have won despite credible evidence, according to the AP, that he lost by more than a 2-to-1 margin. Protests left 28 people dead, 220 injured and at least 2,000 detained, according to official figures.

The presence of police and military personnel across Caracas on Sunday was notably smaller than on an average day, the AP reported. Soldiers worked to clear an area of an air base that burned along with at least three passenger buses during the U.S. operation.

A civilian death in La Guaira

In the coastal state of La Guaira, Wilman González picked through rubble and broken furniture covering the floor of his home Sunday. An American strike early Saturday had blown apart the wall of his apartment, killing his 80-year-old aunt, Rosa Elena González. The family rushed her to the hospital, but medical staff could not save her.

“This is it, what we are left with: ruins,” González said, standing before the gaping hole in his wall, stitches lining the corner of his blackened eye.

Venezuelan officials said Saturday’s operation killed civilians and military personnel but provided no death toll. The government’s press office did not respond to multiple requests for figures.

González spoke with anger not only at his losses but at the compounding economic and political crises Venezuela has endured. “The government can throw me in jail if they want, but I’m talking about the reality of the country we live in,” he said. “What we want is a government that is good for all Venezuelans, not just a few.”