How Marco Rubio is running Venezuela from afar
- The San Juan Daily Star
- 14 hours ago
- 5 min read
By TYLER PAGER and ANATOLY KURMANAEV
President Donald Trump was sitting in the Oval Office earlier this year with Secretary of State Marco Rubio when an idea came to him.
Maybe he should dispatch Rubio permanently to Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, where U.S. commandos had carried out the proudest foreign policy achievement of Trump’s second term: the capture of Nicolás Maduro, the country’s president.
Rubio could be the next leader of Venezuela, Trump suggested. And while the president’s aides say he was joking — and that he frequently teases Rubio about an overseas assignment — the fact is that Rubio does not need to move to Caracas.
He already runs Venezuela from Washington, D.C.
In the six months since U.S. forces blew open Maduro’s bedroom door and snatched him in the dead of night, Rubio has become the de facto viceroy of Venezuela, holding sway over a sovereign nation in a way that no U.S. official has since Paul Bremer arrived in Baghdad in 2003 to run U.S.-occupied Iraq.
Rubio now effectively controls Venezuela’s finances, the distribution of its natural resources and its government, according to interviews with more than a dozen officials and people close to both governments in Washington and Caracas, who provided details about his involvement in steering the country’s policies. Many spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private interactions and internal discussions.
While he has not visited Venezuela in person since the U.S. took over, Rubio is deeply involved in the country’s day-to-day operations, keeping in close contact with Delcy Rodríguez, who was Maduro’s vice president and now leads her country on an acting basis, with the imprimatur of the United States. The two exchange messages in Spanish on WhatsApp, trading gossip, birthday greetings and selfies.
Despite the banter, the relationship between Rubio and Rodríguez is far from a partnership. It is a manifestation of Trump-era American power, in which the winner takes all regardless of sovereignty and international law.
The Venezuelan government did not respond to a request for comment. The Trump administration did not address detailed questions about Rubio’s authority in Venezuela. Rubio has downplayed his role and largely avoids discussing his work. He declined multiple requests for an interview.
Tommy Pigott, a State Department spokesperson, said in a statement that “with renewed cooperation and sound economic stewardship, Venezuela can reemerge as a stable, prosperous partner whose citizens benefit from its vast natural wealth and strengthened ties with the United States.”
The direct control over Venezuela’s public revenues, in particular, distinguishes Washington’s influence there from most other countries beholden to its military and financial might.
The U.S. Treasury receives the revenue from most of Venezuela’s exports, then disburses it gradually to Venezuela through the country’s private banks, a relationship akin to parents handing out allowances to children. Rubio and his team set the conditions on what that money can be spent on, and by whom.
He also oversees the application of U.S. sanctions on Venezuela, deciding who gets to do business in the country and how. He has worked to reshape the oil sector and boosted the access of U.S. companies. For her part, Rodríguez runs important government appointments by him, such as the minister of defense.
Since two earthquakes struck Venezuela last month, Rubio has sought to bolster the country’s interim government. The United States has sent 900 military personnel to Venezuela, committed nearly $400 million in aid and delivered crates of cash to the Venezuelan government.
The earthquakes have complicated Rubio’s stated mission to return Venezuela to democracy. But the country’s ability to recover is critical to Trump’s ultimate goal: securing Venezuelan oil for U.S. interests.
In the early hours of Jan. 3, shortly after Maduro was captured, Rubio reached Rodríguez by phone. Rubio told her that she had a choice between working with the United States or witnessing a broader attack targeting Venezuela’s infrastructure, military bases and senior officials.
After some negotiation, Rodríguez agreed.
She told Rubio that “she’s essentially willing to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again,” according to Trump. The president said the United States would “run the country” until there was a “safe, proper and judicious transition” of power.
Days later, Trump told The New York Times in an interview that he expected the United States to run Venezuela for years.
At the center of the fulcrum is Rubio, dubbed by other officials as “viceroy,” the title given to the powerful governors who ruled the Spanish empire until Venezuela and most of its other provinces rebelled and won independence in the early 19th century.
Rubio’s team drafts the licenses that provide companies that want to do business in Venezuela with exemptions from sanctions. Rubio has warned Rodríguez’s government to abstain from business with U.S. adversaries. Following Maduro’s downfall, for example, Venezuela’s state oil company has quietly taken over the operations of the oil projects that it co-owns with Russia’s state-run Rosneft.
The Trump administration even exerts control over Rodríguez’s public appearances and statements. In May, Rubio announced that Rodríguez would travel to India before the Venezuelan government mentioned it, surprising Venezuelan officials and foreign diplomats.
When the United States attacked Iran, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil issued a soft condemnation of the aggression against Venezuela’s longtime ally.
The Trump administration communicated to Rodríguez that the post should be taken down, and warned her not to publicly support its adversaries again. Gil deleted the post hours after posting it.
In effect, it was an admission that Venezuela no longer sets its foreign policy.
Rubio has described the administration’s plans for Venezuela in three phases: recover the economy, stabilize the country and transition it to democracy.
Before the earthquakes, U.S. officials said they were in the second phase, working to open up Venezuela to international investment. To further that goal, senior Trump administration officials have traveled to Venezuela to meet their counterparts and strike new energy and mining deals.
The resulting announcements, however, have mostly been optimistic outlines of potential investments.
The success of the efforts to bring stability to Venezuela, the second phase of Rubio’s plan, largely hinges on foreign investment. But investors are cautious. The oil sector is degraded and corrupt, and Rodríguez’s grip on power is uncertain. The earthquakes have delayed the negotiations for new oil contracts.
Trump appears unworried. He has repeatedly suggested that Venezuela could become the 51st state.
Who may lead the country on a more permanent basis is still deeply uncertain. María Corina Machado, the exiled opposition leader, remains the country’s most popular politician. But she has sworn enemies among Venezuela’s security and military officials, leading Rubio to bypass her and settle on Rodríguez as the country’s handpicked leader.
Once a staunch supporter of Machado, Rubio has distanced himself from her in recent months. The cooling relationship between the Trump administration and Machado became an open breach after the earthquakes. U.S. officials have refused to help her return to Venezuela out of fear of stoking unrest.
The time frame for the final phase of Rubio’s Venezuela plan, the free elections, remains undefined. When the Times asked Rodríguez in May when she would hold elections, she said, “I don’t know. Sometime.”
Political analysts say that Rodríguez may be trying to run out the clock on the Trump presidency, hoping that the pressure to hold the vote would fade under his successor.
For now, the question of when an election would be held is not in her hands. It is in Rubio’s.
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