US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has warned that the Trump administration is ready to deploy military force to ensure "maximum cooperation" from Venezuela’s interim President, Delcy Rodríguez.
While Rubio expressed hope that Rodríguez’s own political survival would drive her to align with Washington, he underscored that American objectives are non-negotiable.
“We are prepared to use force to ensure maximum cooperation if other methods fail,” Rubio said in his statement for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday. “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,” he said.
Rubio added that Rodríguez has already pledged to grant US energy firms preferential access to Venezuela’s oil reserves and channel petroleum revenues back into the American economy by purchasing US goods.
The hearing was Rubio’s first public appearance before Congress since the US raid on Caracas that led to the capture of her predecessor, Nicolás Maduro, on January 3.
The US Department of Justice had indicted Maduro on narco-terrorism charges. He is currently being held in a New York jail, where he has pleaded not guilty.
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In recent testimony, Rubio had lauded the operation that removed Maduro from power, characterising it as a successful law enforcement mission that achieved its goals without a single American casualty.
Democrats have slammed the raid as an illegal act of war that circumvented Congress and now threatens to entangle the US in a prolonged commitment to rebuild Venezuela.
In late 2025, the US launched its largest naval deployment in Latin American waters in decades, blowing up drug cartel vessels. However, by mid-December, President Donald Trump shifted focus towards Venezuela’s oil industry, accusing the socialist regime of asset theft while promoting a post-Maduro deal to export 50 million barrels of crude to the US to be sold for the benefit of both nations. To enforce this, the US interdicted at least seven tankers to dismantle the "shadow fleet" circumventing sanctions on Venezuelan petroleum.
Earlier this week, Rodríguez said Venezuela had “had enough” of US interference as the government faces growing discontent from public-sector groups and leftist parties over plans to overhaul the oil industry.
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