Venezuela’s acting President, Delcy Rodriguez, accused US President Donald Trump of “energy greed” and rejected what she called “false” allegations of drug trafficking and human rights abuses linked to the tenure of her predecessor, Nicolas Maduro.
Speaking during a broadcast on state television VTV, she said, “All the lies about ‘drug trafficking’, ‘democracy’, ‘human rights’. They were the excuses. It was always about the oil,” she said.
“We are an energy powerhouse, we truly are”. “It has brought us tremendous problems, because you all know that the energy greed of the North wants the resources of our country.”
“There is a stain on our relations such as had never occurred in our history,” she said. “Extremist or fascist social, political, and economic expressions cannot be allowed, because they have led to very dangerous situations for the life of this Republic. That is why we must have programs for peace and national coexistence.”
Her comments came after Trump claimed the United States was receiving full cooperation from Venezuela’s government and would retain control over the country and its oil reserves for years. The US president also said Venezuela was giving “everything that we feel is necessary.”
Rejecting the idea of any one-sided deal with the US, the interim president said Venezuela is “open to energy relationships where all parties benefit, where cooperation is clearly defined in a commercial agreement.”
Also Read | Venezuelan government seeks to show it is operating free from American control
What happened?
Delcy Rodríguez, who served as vice president under Nicolás Maduro and has vowed to work with the Trump administration, was sworn in as interim president. She took the oath from her brother, Jorge Rodríguez, who was reelected as speaker of the legislature.
“I come with sorrow for the suffering inflicted upon the Venezuelan people following an illegitimate military aggression against our homeland,” she said, raising her right hand.
Lawmakers used the session to denounce Maduro’s capture by US forces on Saturday.
“If we normalize the kidnapping of a head of state, no country is safe. Today, it’s Venezuela. Tomorrow, it could be any nation that refuses to submit,” Maduro’s son, Nicolas Maduro Guerra, said during his first public appearance since Saturday at the legislative palace. “This is not a regional problem. It is a direct threat to global political stability.”
The United States seized Maduro and Cilia Flores in a military operation on Saturday, capturing them at their residence on a military base. President Donald Trump said the U.S. would temporarily “run” Venezuela, though Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Sunday that Washington would not govern the country on a day-to-day basis, aside from enforcing an existing “oil quarantine.”
Rubio said the pressure on Venezuela’s oil industry was intended to push policy changes. “We expect to see that there will be changes, not just in the way the oil industry is run for the benefit of the people, but also so that they stop the drug trafficking,” he said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
On Sunday, Rodríguez said Venezuela was seeking “respectful relations” with the United States, marking a shift from the more defiant tone she adopted in the immediate aftermath of Maduro’s capture.
