President Trump said Sunday that the United States is effectively running the show in Venezuela — and argued that helping rebuild the South American nation is a far different case from past U.S. nation‑building efforts in the Middle East.
Speaking with reporters aboard Air Force One, Mr. Trump said his administration is working with interim President Delcy Rodriguez, whom he described as “cooperating.”
But he made clear that she isn’t the one calling the shots and that she must grant the United States “total access” to the country.
“Don’t ask me who is in charge because I will give you an answer and it will be very controversial,” Mr. Trump said. When a reporter pressed him on what he meant, he replied, ”it means we’re in charge. We’re in charge.”
Asked how that squares with his past criticism of nation‑building abroad, Mr. Trump said the situation is different, likening Venezuela to a sick neighbor rather than a distant conflict.
“This isn’t a country that is on the other side of the world,” he said. “This is Venezuela, in our area.”
Mr. Trump also took aim at Colombian President Gustavo Petro, calling him a “sick man” who “likes selling cocaine to the United States,” and warning that “he is not going to be doing it very long.”
When asked whether that meant a potential similar U.S. operation in Colombia, he responded, “it sounds good to me.”
He also predicted that Cuba, a communist dictatorship for more than 60 years, would fall of its own accord without any direct U.S. military action.
The president painted a bleak picture of Venezuela, calling it a “dead country,” and said any rebuilding effort will depend on significant infrastructure investments from oil companies that are “ready to go” and “want to go in so badly.”
He suggested that elections could happen after the oil industry is rebuilt.
“The country is a mess,” he said. “It has been horribly run.”
Mr. Trump added that if he had lost the 2024 election, the United States would have become “Venezuela on steroids” under the rule of Democrats, who have several high-profile faces who are self-described socialists.
