Secretary of state does not rule out further US military action in Venezuela, according to prepared remarks
The Trump administration is ready to take new military action against Venezuela if the country’s interim leadership strays from US expectations, according to Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state.
In prepared testimony for a hearing before the Senate foreign relations committee, Rubio says the US is not at war with Venezuela and that its interim leaders are cooperating, but he notes that the Trump administration would not rule out using additional force following the capture of Nicolás Maduro early this month.
“We are prepared to use force to ensure maximum cooperation if other methods fail,” says Rubio’s prepared opening statement, which was 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.”
Rubio, a former Florida senator, will aim to sell one of Donald Trump’s more contentious priorities to former colleagues in Congress. With the focus of the Republican administration’s foreign policy switching between the western hemisphere, Europe and the Middle East, Rubio also may be called to calm fears in his own party about Trump’s demand to annex Greenland .
