U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks as U.S. President Donald Trump stands behind him during a press conference following a U.S. strike on Venezuela where President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were captured, from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., January 3, 2026.
Jonathan Ernst | Reuters
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday appeared to backtrack on President Donald Trump’s claim that the U.S. will “run” Venezuela after U.S. forces on Saturday captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and hauled him to the U.S.
Asked for details on how the U.S. plans to run Venezuela, Rubio said the U.S. would use leverage gained from its oil blockade on the country and regional military buildup to achieve its policy aims. He did not say the U.S. would directly govern Venezuela.
The U.S. in recent months has seized tankers associated with the country and moved military ships and warplanes into the Caribbean.
“What’s going to happen here is we have a quarantine on their oil, that means their economy will not be able to move forward until the conditions that are in the national interest of the United States and the interests of the Venezuelan people are met, and that’s what we intend to do,” Rubio said on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos.”
“That leverage remains, that leverage is ongoing and we expect that it’s going to lead to results here,” Rubio said.
Trump said on Saturday said the U.S. would “run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition.”
The comments sparked a firestorm of criticism from Trump’s adversaries and some allies, who warned against a nation-building exercise in Venezuela.
“We have learned through the years when America tries to do regime change and nation building in this way, the American people pay the price in both blood and dollars,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said on ABC on Sunday.
Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez was sworn in as president following Maduro’s capture. Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, arrived in New York on Saturday night to face charges related to drug trafficking.
Rubio’s comments suggest that the U.S. will take a softer approach with Venezuela than Trump’s initial suggestions of ruling the country with a “group.” Though Rubio said Trump still may take further military action to achieve U.S. goals.
Asked on NBC’s “Meet the Press” about further military action in Venezuela, Rubio said Trump “retains all his optionality.”
Rubio also extrapolated on the U.S.’ aims with Venezuela’s oil reserves. Trump on Saturday said the U.S. is “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.”
Venezuela sits on the largest proven oil reserves in the world.
“Ultimately, this is not about securing the oil fields; this is about ensuring that no sanctioned oil can come in and out until they make changes to the governance of that entire industry,” Rubio said on ABC. “The way to address it to the benefit of the Venezuelan people is to get private companies that are not from Iran or somewhere else to go in and invest in the equipment.”
Rubio said he has not spoken to specific U.S. oil companies about the prospect of starting business in Venezuela. Currently, only Chevron operates in the country.
“We’re pretty certain that there will be dramatic interest from Western companies,” Rubio said.
Rubio said Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Energy Secretary Chris Wright will be “taking an assessment and speaking to some of these companies.”
Clarification: The U.S. military captured Nicolas Maduro and removed him from Venezuela. That was not clear in a reference in an earlier version of this article.