Trump: Were going to run Venezuela until such time as a proper transition can take place

U.S. President Donald Trump announced his country will “run Venezuela until such time as we can have a safe, proper and judicious transition,” after the U.S. military captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas in the early hours of Saturday, in what Trump described as a “spectacular attack.” In a press conference from his Mar-a-Lago resort on Saturday at 11.39 a.m. Florida time, the U.S. leader said “we are ready to stage a second and much larger attack if we need to do so.” According to Trump, Maduro will face charges in New York for being “a kingpin of a drug cartel” called the Cartel de los Soles, an organization that many experts believe doesn’t actually formally exist, but is rather a name Venezuelans use to describe corrupt military officers who deal drugs. The president said “not a single American servicemember was killed or a piece of military equipment was lost” during the operation, codenamed “Absolute Reserve”, which occurred “in the dead of the night”. Trump described it as the most impressive U.S. military attack since the Second World War and said “no nation in the world could achieve what America achieved”. Oil Trump also talked about Venezuela’s crumbling oil industry during the press conference, and accused the country of stealing U.S. assets. “Venezuela unilaterally seized and sold American oil, American assets and American platforms, costing us billions and billions of dollars.”  “They took all of our property… it was our property. We built it, and we never had a president that decided to do anything about it,” he said. “As everyone knows, the oil business in Venezuela has been a bust, a total bust, for a long period of time, they were pumping almost nothing, by comparison to what they could have been pumping,” he added. “We’re going to have our very large United States oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure, and start making money for the country.”  Trump also stated that “American dominance in the Western Hemisphere will never be questioned again.” What will happen now When asked by the press how the U.S. would run Venezuela, Trump replied: “We’re going to be running it with a group, and we’re going to make sure it’s run properly,” although the president offered no further details. “We’re going to rebuild the oil infrastructure, which will cost billions of dollars. It will be paid for by the oil companies directly. They will be reimbursed for what they’re doing, but it’s going to be paid,” he said. “And we’re going to get the oil flowing the way it should be.”  The U.S. president also referred to Venezuelans. “We’re going to make sure the people of Venezuela are taken care of. We’re going to make sure the people that were forced out of Venezuela by this thug are also taken care of,” he said. Asked what message he would give the people of the South American country, he said: “You’re going to have some of the riches that you should have had for a long period of time. It was stolen from you, but you’re going to have peace, and you’re going to have safety, you’re going to have justice. You’re going to have a country. You’re going to have a real country. You’re going to have potentially a great country.” Consulted about Venezuela’s main opposition leader, María Corina Machado, the recent Nobel Peace Prize recipient who on Saturday supported the U.S. operation to oust Maduro, Trump considered “it would be very tough for her to be the leader (of Venezuela) as she doesn’t have the support or the respect within the country. She’s a very nice woman, but she doesn’t have the respect (needed to lead).” Colombia and Cuba Trump was also asked if running a country in South America was in line with his famous “America First” doctrine.  “I think it is because we want to surround ourselves with good neighbors. We want to surround ourselves with stability. We want to surround ourselves with energy. We have tremendous energy in that country. It’s very important that we protect it. We need that for ourselves. We need that for the world, and we want to make sure we can protect it,” he replied. When asked about Colombia’s leader, Gustavo Petro, whom Trump accused of “making cocaine”, he said he has to “watch his ass”.  The Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, was also asked what the attack on Venezuela could mean for allies of that country, such as Cuba. “If I lived in Havana and I was in the government, I’d be concerned at least a little bit,” he said.