By Matt Spetalnick, Gram Slattery and Humeyra Pamuk
WASHINGTON/PALM BEACH, Florida, Jan 4 (Reuters) – After removing President Nicolas Maduro from power, the Trump administration is gambling that it can intimidate the Venezuelan leader’s inner circle into toeing the U.S. line with threats of further military action that could put them at risk of a similar fate, according to sources familiar with the matter.
President Donald Trump’s advisers also believe they may be able to work behind the scenes with Interim President Delcy Rodriguez who, despite her public defiance, is seen as a technocrat who might be amenable to working with the U.S. on a political transition and key oil-related issues, according to three people briefed on the U.S. strategy.
The still-vague plan, however, faces numerous complicating factors, including how much further Trump is prepared to go militarily, raising questions about his ability to bend the post-Maduro Venezuelan government to his will.
The potential sweeteners for Maduro’s aides would be offers of amnesty or safe exile of the sort that Maduro rejected in his final days before his capture by U.S. special forces on Saturday, according to one source. He is now locked away in a New York detention center awaiting a Monday court appearance on drug charges.
Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino and Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, two powerful members of Maduro’s inner circle who both have multimillion-dollar U.S. bounties on their heads, remain potential spoilers in any such arrangement with the U.S., given their authority over the country’s military and intelligence apparatus.
The White House declined to provide answers to Reuters’ questions, referring instead to comments by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio that were broadcast on Sunday.
Trump’s effort could also be undercut if Democrats can convince enough of the president’s fellow Republicans to restrict funding for any further Venezuela military operation, which would send a message to Venezuela that Trump’s hand could be weakened.
The U.S. president’s vow on Saturday to “run” post-Maduro Venezuela appears for now to be more an aspiration to exert outside control – or at least heavy influence – over the OPEC nation without deploying U.S. ground forces, which would have little public support at home.
But U.S. officials believe they can still gain cooperation from Venezuelan authorities by maintaining a massive military buildup off the country’s coast and keeping alive the threat of further air strikes, the targeting of Maduro loyalists and, as a last resort, sending in a contingent of U.S. troops.
“This is the sword that Trump has hanging over them,” the source told Reuters.
Venezuela’s remaining leaders could feel especially vulnerable because of the damage inflicted by U.S. air strikes on the country’s air defense systems, according to a second source familiar with the matter.
Another major source of leverage, hammered home by Rubio on Sunday television news programs, is to keep in place a “quarantine” on Venezuelan oil shipments, the government’s main financial lifeline.
Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, the Republican chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, was explicit about the threat to the Venezuelan government, telling CNN: “If they don’t want to follow in Maduro’s footsteps, they need to start meeting our demands.”
VENEZUELAN OFFICIALS DEFIANT
Top Venezuelan officials, who have called the capture of Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores a kidnapping and accused the U.S. of trying to steal the country’s vast oil reserves, insisted that they remain united.
Rodriguez – who also serves as oil minister – has taken over as interim leader with the blessing of Venezuela’s top court, though she has said Maduro remains president.
Because of her connections with the private sector and her deep knowledge of oil, the country’s top source of revenue, Rodriguez has long been considered the most pragmatic member of what was Maduro’s inner circle, but she has publicly contradicted Trump on his claims she is willing to work with the United States.
Trump was quoted on Sunday in an interview with The Atlantic warning that Rodriguez may pay a bigger price than Maduro “if she doesn’t do what’s right.”
Brushing aside Rodriguez’ defiant language, Rubio told CBS: “We’re going to make an assessment on the basis of what they do, not what they say publicly.”
Trump said nothing about restoring democracy to Venezuela in his triumphant press conference on Saturday. And he disappointed the country’s opposition when he dismissed the idea of working with opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado, widely seen as Maduro’s most credible opponent, and focused more on prospects for exploiting Venezuela’s energy resources.
Trump’s aides appear to see co-opting Venezuela’s current leadership as the best way to stabilize the country and create a path for U.S. oil investment while moving toward some kind of political transition away from the Maduro government.
The U.S. has not intervened in Latin America so directly since invading Panama 37 years ago to depose military leader Manuel Noriega over allegations that he led a drug-running operation. The United States has leveled similar charges against Maduro, accusing him of running a “narco-state” and rigging the 2024 election, accusations he has denied.
Trump offered no clear picture how the U.S. would fulfill his vow to oversee Venezuela, something critics quickly condemned as neocolonialism and which would risk alienating some supporters who oppose foreign interventions.
Much of the U.S. State Department’s Western Hemisphere office was caught by surprise by Trump’s remarks, and no preparations have been made for sending staff to Caracas, two U.S. officials said.
Rubio, who along with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth will take on that job, provided little clarity on Sunday and even appeared to edge away from the idea of actually taking day-to-day control of the country of nearly 30 million people.
“Well, it’s running policy, the policy with regards to this,” he told NBC’s Meet the Press. “We want Venezuela to move in a certain direction because not only do we think it’s good for the people of Venezuela, it’s in our national interest.”
(Reporting by Matt Spetalnick, Gram Slattery and Humeyra Pamuk; Additional reporting by Jonathan Landay in Washington, writing by Matt Spetalnick; Editing by Don Durfee and Diane Craft)
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