CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump said Tuesday on his social media site that \u201cInterim Authorities\u201d in Venezuela would be selling 30 million to 50 million barrels of \u201cHigh Quality\u201d oil to the U.S. at its market price.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have asked Energy Secretary Chris Wright to execute this plan, immediately,\u201d Trump posted on Truth Social. \u201cIt will be taken by storage ships, and brought directly to unloading docks in the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump said the money would be controlled by him as president but it would be used to benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States.<\/p>\n
Separately, the White House is organizing an Oval Office meeting Friday with oil company executives regarding Venezuela, with representatives of Exxon, Chevron and ConocoPhillips expected to attend, according to a person familiar with the matter who requested anonymity to discuss the plans.<\/p>\n
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP\u2019s earlier story follows below.<\/p>\n
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) \u2014 At least 24 Venezuelan security officers<\/a> were killed in the dead-of-night U.S. military operation<\/a> to capture Nicol\u00e1s Maduro<\/a> and spirit him to the United States to face drug charges, officials said Tuesday.<\/p>\n Venezuelan officials announced the death count as the country\u2019s acting president, Delcy Rodriguez,<\/a> pushed back on President Donald Trump<\/a>, who earlier this week warned she\u2019d face an outcome worse than Maduro\u2019s if she does not \u201cdo what\u2019s right\u201d<\/a> and overhaul Venezuela into a country that aligns with U.S. interests. Trump has said his administration will now \u201crun\u201d Venezuela policy<\/a> and is pressing the country\u2019s leaders to open its vast oil reserves to American energy companies.<\/p>\n \u201cPersonally, to those who threaten me,\u201d Rodriguez said in an address before government agricultural and industrial sector officials. \u201cMy destiny is not determined by them, but by God.\u201d<\/p>\n Venezuela\u2019s Attorney General Tarek William Saab said overall \u201cdozens\u201d of officers and civilians were killed in the weekend strike in Caracas and that prosecutors would investigate the deaths in what he described as a \u201cwar crime.\u201d He didn\u2019t specify if the estimate was specifically referring to Venezuelans.<\/p>\n In addition to the Venezuelan security officials, Cuba\u2019s government had previously confirmed that 32 Cuban military and police officers working in Venezuela were killed in the raid<\/a>. The Cuban government says the personnel killed<\/a> belonged to the Revolutionary Armed Forces and the Ministry of the Interior, the country\u2019s two main security agencies. <\/p>\n Seven U.S. service members were also injured in the raid, according to the Pentagon. Five have already returned to duty, while two are still recovering from their injuries. The injuries included gunshot wounds and shrapnel injuries, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to comment on the matter publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n A video tribute to the slain Venezuelan security officials posted to the military\u2019s Instagram features faces of the fallen over black-and-white videos of soldiers, American aircraft flying over Caracas and armored vehicles destroyed by the blasts. Meanwhile, the streets of Caracas, deserted for days following Maduro\u2019s capture, briefly filled with masses of people waving Venezuelan flags and bouncing to patriotic music at a state-organized display of support for the government.<\/p>\n \u201cTheir spilled blood does not cry out for vengeance, but for justice and strength,\u201d the military wrote in an Instagram post. \u201cIt reaffirms our unwavering oath not to rest until we rescue our legitimate President, completely dismantle the terrorist groups operating from abroad, and ensure that events such as these never again sully our sovereign soil.\u201d <\/p>\n Trump grumbles about how Democrats reacted to the raid<\/p>\n Trump on Tuesday pushed back against Democratic criticism of this weekend\u2019s military operation, noting that his Democratic predecessor Joe Biden had also called for the arrest of the Venezuelan leader<\/a> on drug trafficking charges.<\/p>\n Trump in remarks before a House Republican retreat<\/a> in Washington grumbled that Democrats were not giving him credit for a successful military operation, even though there was bipartisan agreement that Maduro was not the rightful president of Venezuela.<\/p>\n In 2020, Maduro was indicted in the United States, accused in a decades-long narco-terrorism and international cocaine trafficking conspiracy. White House officials have noted that Biden\u2019s administration in his final days in office last year raised the award<\/a> for information leading to Maduro\u2019s arrest after he assumed a third term in office despite evidence suggesting that he lost Venezuela\u2019s most recent election. The Trump administration doubled the award to $50 million in August.<\/p>\n \u201cYou know, at some point, they should say, \u2018You know, you did a great job. Thank you. Congratulations.\u2019 Wouldn\u2019t it be good?\u201d Trump said. \u201cI would say that if they did a good job, their philosophies are so different. But if they did a good job, I\u2019d be happy for the country. They\u2019ve been after this guy for years and years and years.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s latest comments came after Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other top officials briefed leaders in Congress<\/a> late Monday on the Venezuela operation<\/a> amid mounting concerns that the Republican administration is embarking on a new era of U.S. expansionism<\/a> without consultation with lawmakers or a clear vision for running the South American country.<\/p>\n Democratic leaders said the session lacked clarity about the Trump administration\u2019s plans for Venezuela. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., an Iraq War veteran, said there is no dispute with Trump that Maduro was a \u201cbrutal dictator.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut the problem we have is the fact that yet again we have now entered into a war where there is no known off-ramp,\u201d Duckworth said.<\/p>\n What US opinion polls show<\/p>\n Americans are split about the capture of Maduro \u2014 with many still forming opinions \u2014 according to a poll<\/a> conducted by The Washington Post and SSRS using text messages over the weekend. About 4 in 10 approved of the U.S. military being sent to capture Maduro, while roughly the same share were opposed. About 2 in 10 were unsure.<\/p>\n Nearly half of Americans, 45%, were opposed to the U.S. taking control of Venezuela and choosing a new government for the country. About 9 in 10 Americans said the Venezuelan people should be the ones to decide the future leadership of their country.<\/p>\n Maduro pleaded not guilty to federal drug trafficking charges<\/a> in a U.S. courtroom on Monday. U.S. forces captured Maduro and his wife early Saturday in a raid on a compound where they were surrounded by Cuban guards.<\/p>\n In the days since Maduro\u2019s ouster, Trump and top administration officials have raised anxiety around the globe that the operation could mark the beginning of a more expansionist U.S. foreign policy in the Western Hemisphere. The president in recent days has renewed his calls for an American takeover of the Danish territory of Greenland<\/a> for the sake of U.S. security interests and threatened military action on Colombia for facilitating the global sale of cocaine, while his top diplomat declared the communist government in Cuba<\/a> is \u201cin a lot of trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n Colombia responds to Trump<\/p>\n Colombia\u2019s Foreign Affairs Minister Rosa Villavicencio said Tuesday she\u2019ll meet with the U.S. Embassy\u2019s charge d\u2019affaires in Bogota to present him with a formal complaint over the recent threats issued by the United States.<\/p>\n On Sunday, Trump said he wasn\u2019t ruling out an attack on Colombia and described its president, who\u2019s been an outspoken critic of the U.S. pressure campaign on Venezuela, as a \u201csick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n Villavicencio said she\u2019s hoping to strengthen relations with the United States and improve cooperation in the fight against drug trafficking.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is necessary for the Trump administration to know in more detail about all that we are doing in the fight against drug trafficking,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n