{"id":674279,"date":"2026-01-04T23:49:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-04T23:49:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/674279\/"},"modified":"2026-01-04T23:49:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T23:49:10","slug":"donald-trump-warns-of-big-price-to-pay-if-caracas-fails-to-toe-line-venezuela","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/674279\/","title":{"rendered":"Donald Trump warns of \u2018big price to pay\u2019 if Caracas fails to toe line | Venezuela"},"content":{"rendered":"

The prospect of the United States seizing direct control of Venezuela appeared to recede on Sunday after the shocking seizure of President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro<\/a> \u2013 but US officials said Washington was keeping a 15,000-strong force in the Caribbean and might make a fresh military intervention if Venezuela\u2019s interim president, Delcy Rodr\u00edguez, did not accommodate their demands.<\/p>\n

While Rodr\u00edguez <\/strong>kept up a defiant tone in public, the substance of conversations she had had in private with US officials was not clear.<\/p>\n

In the aftermath of Maduro\u2019s abduction on Saturday, Donald Trump said the US would \u201crun\u201d the South American country of 30 million people. On Sunday he warned Rodr\u00edguez <\/strong>to heed US wishes. \u201cIf she doesn\u2019t do what\u2019s right, she is going to pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro,\u201d he told the Atlantic<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Rodr\u00edguez, 56, had on Saturday pledged fealty to Maduro and condemned his capture as an \u201catrocity\u201d but the New York Times reported that Trump officials several weeks ago identified the technocrat as a potential successor and business partner partly on the basis of her relationship with Wall Street and oil companies.<\/p>\n

A TV and telephone tower destroyed in the US raid on Caracas on Saturday. Photograph: Maxwell Briceno\/Reuters<\/p>\n

The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio<\/a>, spoke to Rodr\u00edguez, who told him \u201c\u2018we\u2019ll do whatever you need\u2019\u201d, Trump told reporters. \u201cShe, I think, was quite gracious, but she really doesn\u2019t have a choice.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the capital, Caracas, senior government and military figures demanded the return of Maduro but pledged support for Rodr\u00edguez <\/strong>as a stand-in leader and called for a return to normality.<\/p>\n

\u201cI call on the people of Venezuela<\/a> to resume their activities of all kinds, economic, work and education, in the coming days,\u201d Vladimir Padrino L\u00f3pez, the defence minister, said in a televised address.<\/p>\n

Maduro\u2019s son, Nicol\u00e1s Ernesto Maduro Guerra, said his father\u2019s supporters are more resolved than ever to support the ousted president, according to an audio shared on social media.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey will not see us weak,\u201d Maduro Guerra said. \u201cThe president, Nicol\u00e1s Maduro, will return. He will return. It\u2019s been a day of shock, of course, we\u2019re all in shock.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we will take to the streets, we will convene the people, we will unite, we will form a nucleus around our highest political-military command with maximum unity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Venezuelan opposition figure Edmundo Gonz\u00e1lez Urrutia said Maduro\u2019s ousting was \u201can important step, but not enough\u201d to return the crisis-hit nation to normal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis moment represents an important step, but it is not enough,\u201d he said in a post on Instagram from exile in Spain.<\/p>\n

Trump said the US may intervene in other countries. \u201cWe do need Greenland, absolutely.\u201d Katie Miller, the wife of Trump\u2019s deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, posted a social media picture of Greenland painted in the colours of the US flag, and the word \u201csoon\u201d, prompting a protest from Greenland\u2019s prime minister.<\/p>\n

In a round of TV interviews<\/a> Rubio downplayed the possibility of invasion or occupation of Venezuela. \u201cThere\u2019s not a war. I mean, we are at war against drug trafficking organisations, not a war against Venezuela. We don\u2019t have US forces on the ground,\u201d he told NBC.<\/p>\n

Troops were in Caracas for two hours in a \u201claw enforcement function\u201d that did not require congressional approval, he said. \u201cThis was not an invasion. This was not an extended military operation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The US will keep a \u201cquarantine\u201d around Venezuela to block the entry and exit of oil tankers under American sanctions to sustain \u201cleverage\u201d over Maduro\u2019s successor, said Rubio. \u201cWe are going to make our assessment on the basis of what they do, not what they say publicly.\u201d<\/p>\n

The US had \u201cmultiple levers of influence\u201d to respond if Venezuela\u2019s leaders did not make the \u201cright\u201d decisions, said Rubio. He said the Cuban government \u2013 Venezuela\u2019s main ally \u2013 was a \u201chuge problem\u201d and in a \u201clot of trouble\u201d but declined to elaborate.<\/p>\n

Senator Tom Cotton, a Republican from Arkansas and the chair of the Senate intelligence committee, also rowed back on Trump\u2019s vow to run Venezuela, saying there were \u201cstill a lot of questions to be answered\u201d about what happens next.<\/p>\n

The governments of Spain, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Uruguay said in a joint statement that US actions \u201cconstitute an extremely dangerous precedent for peace and regional security and endanger the civilian population\u201d. Keir Starmer said Britain was not involved in the attack but refused to condemn it.<\/p>\n

All EU countries except Hungary issued a statement<\/a> calling for restraint by \u201call actors\u201d and respect for the will of the Venezuelan people in order to \u201crestore democracy\u201d.<\/p>\n

In Caracas some shops and cafes reopened in a semblance of normality while authorities counted the cost of Saturday\u2019s raid.<\/p>\n

Large queues formed outside stores in Venezuela\u2019s capital as anxious residents stocked up on basic supplies, apprehensive about what the future might bring and the possibility \u2013 suggested by Trump \u2013 that there could be a \u201csecond wave\u201d of attacks.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the same everywhere, there are queues in the supermarkets, there are queues in the bakeries, queues at the pharmacy,\u201d said one 71-year-old pensioner who was one of 20 people lined up outside a small family grocery market in north-east Caracas on Sunday morning.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s so much uncertainty because people don\u2019t know what might happen in the coming days and nobody wants to see another situation like the early hours of Saturday or to be caught with their pants down and an empty fridge,\u201d added the man, who asked not to be named.<\/p>\n

His 68-year-old wife, who also declined to give her name, fought back tears as she pondered Venezuela\u2019s latest crisis. \u201cI just hope things return to normal. That there can be dialogue. That we can have peaceful lives. That there is no big disaster and that nobody dies,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Outside one of Venezuela\u2019s largest supermarket chains in Petare, on the east side of Caracas, a young couple waited in a 100-person-long line outside a supermarket in order to stock up on milk, butter and flour. So many people had flocked there that supermarket workers were letting in shoppers in groups.<\/p>\n

\u201c[I feel] angry,\u201d said the 23-year-old woman, who gave only her first name, Sauriany. \u201cThey don\u2019t have the right to meddle like this in another country and to do whatever they like,\u201d she said of the US raid.<\/p>\n

Her 24-year-old partner, a lineworker called Leandro, said the streets near their house were deserted as parents kept their children at home for fear of what might happen over the coming days. \u201cThere are so many rumours \u2013 that they [the Americans] might return \u2026 It was terrible on Saturday. All those explosions. The planes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In neighbouring Colombia there was deep unease too, with its president, Gustavo Petro, ordering 30,000 troops to its eastern border with Venezuela in case there was violence or a sudden influx of refugees.<\/p>\n

Padrino L\u00f3pez said \u201ca large part\u201d of Maduro\u2019s security team, as well as soldiers and civilians, died. One unverified report estimated the number killed at 40. The minister said the armed forces will resist \u201cimperial aggression\u201d and ensure independence and sovereignty despite the \u201ccowardly kidnapping\u201d of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.<\/p>\n

The White House shared footage of the deposed dictator handcuffed and doing a \u201cperp walk\u201d to Drug Enforcement Administration offices in New York before being taken to the Metropolitan Detention Center, a federal facility in Brooklyn.<\/p>\n

Nicol\u00e1s Maduro at the offices of the Drug Enforcement Administration in New York on Saturday. Photograph: @RapidResponse47\/Reuters<\/p>\n

Authorities unsealed a four-count indictment that charges Maduro with narco-terrorism and conspiracy to import cocaine. It also charges Flores, their son and two Venezuelan officials and an alleged leader of Tren de Aragua, a gang the Trump administration has designed a terrorist organisation. Maduro is due to appear in a Manhattan federal court on Monday for arraignment.<\/p>\n

The prosecution will deepen the humiliation felt by Maduro loyalists and complicate the balancing act faced by his successor.<\/p>\n

Rodr\u00edguez, who served as vice-president and oil minister until her boss\u2019s removal, must juggle Washington\u2019s demands for oil and security guarantees with a regime that retains vestiges of the socialism and anti-imperialism of its late founder, Hugo Ch\u00e1vez.<\/p>\n

The powerful interior minister, Diosdado Cabello, pledged loyalty to Maduro but tacitly backed the interim president. \u201cHere, the unity of the revolutionary force is more than guaranteed,\u201d he said in an audio clip released by the ruling PSUV party.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration\u2019s apparent satisfaction with regime tweak, rather than regime change, has dismayed those Venezuelans who hoped Maduro\u2019s downfall would usher in democracy.<\/p>\n

Trump was dismissive about the opposition leader Maria Corina Machado<\/a>, the Nobel peace prize winner who mobilised Edmundo Gonz\u00e1lez<\/a>\u2019s winning presidential campaign last year, and said she lacked \u201csupport\u201d in Venezuela. Millions of Venezuelans revere Machado but she is loathed by the military hierarchy that props up the regime.<\/p>\n

Chavistas march in Caracas on Sunday to protest against the capture of President Maduro. Photograph: Ronald Pena R\/EPA<\/p>\n

Rubio said the US wanted a transition to democracy but ruled out elections in the short term and said those in charge of Venezuela\u2019s military and police apparatus needed to decide in which direction they go. \u201cWe hope they will chose a different direction than the one Nicol\u00e1s Maduro picked. Ultimately we hope this leads to a holistic transition.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Caracas joggers and cyclists reappeared on streets but residents expressed nervousness and uncertainty about the future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The prospect of the United States seizing direct control of Venezuela appeared to recede on Sunday after the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":674280,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[12,26],"class_list":{"0":"post-674279","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-news","9":"tag-world"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115839511029985816","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=674279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674279\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/674280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=674279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=674279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=674279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}