US President Donald Trump speaks to House Republican lawmakers during their annual policy retreat, January 6, 2026, in Washington. EVAN VUCCI / AP
US President Donald Trump's administration said on Wednesday, January 7, it will dictate decisions to Venezuela's interim leaders and control the country's oil sales "indefinitely" after toppling Nicolas Maduro. The US could effectively run Venezuela and tap into its oil reserves for years, Trump later told The New York Times.
The American leader's assertion of US dominance over the oil-rich South American country comes despite its interim leader Delcy Rodriguez saying there is no foreign power governing Caracas. "There is a stain on our relations such as had never occurred in our history," Rodriguez said about the US attack to depose her predecessor.
US special forces snatched president Maduro and his wife on Saturday in a lightning raid and whisked them to New York to face trial on drug and weapons charges, underscoring what Trump has called the "Donroe Doctine" of US dominance over its backyard. "We obviously have maximum leverage over the interim authorities in Venezuela right now" following the capture operation, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told a briefing. "We're continuing to be in close coordination with the interim authorities, and their decisions are going to continue to be dictated by the United States of America."
