President Donald Trump has said U.S. oversight of Venezuela and the extraction of oil from its huge reserves could last for years. The statements were made during an interview with the newspaper The New York Times on Wednesday night (7).
The White House leader insisted that the country’s interim regime – made up of former officials loyal to now-imprisoned dictator Nicolás Maduro – is not “delivering everything we consider necessary.”
“Only time will tell,” Trump responded when asked about the duration of this American supervision of the South American country.
“We’re going to rebuild it in a very profitable way,” Trump told the newspaper. “We are going to use the oil and we are going to receive it. We are lowering oil prices and we are going to give money to Venezuela, which desperately needs it.”
Trump’s remarks come hours after administration officials announced that the U.S. plans to effectively take control of the sale of Venezuelan oil indefinitely, as part of a three-phase plan that Secretary of State Marco Rubio outlined to members of Congress.
The American president also did not commit to a date for the possible holding of elections in Venezuela.
As the extensive interview took place, Times journalists watched as Trump paused to take a call from Colombia’s president, Gustavo Petro, who had been threatened by the American with an attack on the country due to its role as a cocaine distribution hub.
When connecting the call, the president invited reporters present in the Oval Office to follow the conversation with Petro, under the condition that its content would not be recorded. He was joined in the room by Vice President JD Vance and Rubio, who left at the end of the call.
According to the American newspaper, Petro’s call, which lasted approximately an hour, appeared to dispel any immediate threat of American military action, and Trump indicated that he believed that the “beheading” of the Maduro regime intimidated other leaders in the region.
Throughout the interview, Trump addressed a wide range of topics, including the fatal shooting of ICE agents in Minneapolis, immigration, the war between Russia and Ukraine, Greenland and the relationship with NATO.
