Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected to warn the current interim administration in Venezuela that if it fails to adequately cooperate with the Trump administration, the U.S. will not hesitate to use more military action against the South American country.
Rubio plans to make the comments during a hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday, the Associated Press reported. Presently, there does not appear to be any tension or strife between Delcy Rodriguez, Venezuela’s interim president, and the Trump administration. Yet, Rubio will seek to reinforce the status quo at the hearing.
“We are prepared to use force to ensure maximum cooperation if other methods fail,” Rubio will tell the SFRC, according to his statement released by the State Department. “It is our hope that this will not prove necessary, but we will never shy away from our duty to the American people and our mission in this hemisphere.”
Venezuela will dominate much of the SFRC hearing on Wednesday, with Rubio anticipated to justify the Trump administration’s actions pertaining to Venezuela since September, when the U.S. began Operation Southern Spear to target narco-trafficking efforts out of Venezuela to enhance “security and stability across the Western Hemisphere by detecting, disrupting, and degrading transnational criminal and illicit maritime networks.”
Much of the hearing will also focus on the military operation that extracted former Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro. Rubio will try to ease Senate concerns that none of these actions violated the Constitution, and reject claims that the U.S. is or was at war with Venezuela, according to the Associated Press.
“There is no war against Venezuela, and we did not occupy a country,” Rubio is expected to tell the SFRC, according to prepared remarks. “There are no U.S. troops on the ground. This was an operation to aid law enforcement.”
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Regarding any future military strikes in Venezuela, Rubio will tell the SFRC that the relationship with Rodriguez is currently satisfactory. Additionally, he will inform the SFRC that the U.S. and Venezuela are cooperating to normalize communication and work together. However, Rubio emphasized that, much like the situation with Maduro, the U.S. will not be hesitant to authorize military force if Venezuela’s government goes astray.
“Rodríguez is well aware of the fate of Maduro,” Rubio will say. “It is our belief that her own self-interest aligns with advancing our key objectives.”