US will use oil blockade and pressure campaign to 'run' Venezuela, Rubio says

Joseph Wilkinson, New York Daily News on Jan 4, 2026

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The U.S. plans to control Venezuela through an oil “quarantine” and a coordinated pressure campaign — but could still send in ground troops if President Trump decides to, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sunday.

“What you’re seeing right now is an oil quarantine that allows us to exert tremendous leverage over what happens next,” Rubio said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “I think what you see as a force posture is one of the largest naval deployments in modern history, certainly in the Western Hemisphere.”

But Rubio said Trump also planned to keep all his options open and could send American troops into the country if Venezuela’s new leadership does not cooperate.

The nation’s vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, took temporary control of the nation after U.S. forces snatched leader Nicolas Maduro early Saturday. But Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Sunday that Rodriguez’s position was tenuous in the eyes of the U.S.

“You can lead or you can get out of the way, because we’re not going to allow you to continue to subvert American influence,” Noem said on “Fox News Sunday.” “We’re looking for a leader that will stand up beside us.”

Rubio also explicitly said the U.S. planned to bring international oil companies in to alter Venezuela’s oil industry, which is the dominant factor in the country’s floundering economy.

Venezuelan oil fields have become less productive since Maduro took over the nation following Hugo Chavez’s death in 2013, and Rubio pitched U.S. intervention as a way to improve production.

“They need investment from private companies who are only going to invest under certain guarantees and conditions,” he said on “Face the Nation.” “We want the oil industry in that country not to go to the benefit of pirates and adversaries of the United States.”

Venezuelan oil exports have been officially sanctioned since 2017. Most of the country’s oil exports from the state-owned company, PDVSA, are sold on the black market in China.

In mid-December, Trump instituted an oil “blockade” surrounding Venezuela, stopping all sanctioned ships from entering or exiting the country through a massive U.S. Navy deployment. Rubio said Sunday that blockade, which he referred to as an “oil quarantine,” would allow the U.S. to dictate terms with whatever Venezuelan leadership emerges.

“My number one objective is America,” Rubio said on ABC’s “This Week.” “We care about Venezuela. We want it to do well moving forward. But our number one objective here is America.”

Many observers have criticized the U.S. operation in Venezuela, which local leaders said killed 40 people, as a violation of international law. The plot involved several military aircraft and bombs dropped on the capital city of Caracas.

On Sunday, Rubio described as a law enforcement operation to arrest Maduro, who was indicted for narcoterrorism under U.S. law. He was jailed in Brooklyn upon his arrival in the U.S. Saturday night.

Several other members of Maduro’s regime, who face similar American criminal charges, remain in Venezuela, ostensibly in positions of power.

“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 in dollars,” Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said on “This Week.”

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