The United States could oversee Venezuela and control its oil revenue for years, President Donald Trump said in an interview.
During what the New York Times described as a wide-ranging, two-hour interview, the paper said Trump also appeared to lift a threat to take military action against Venezuela’s neighbour Colombia. Trump invited Colombia’s leftist leader, whom he had previously called a “sick man”, to visit Washington.
“Only time will tell” how long the United States will oversee Venezuela, Trump said. When asked by the newspaper if it would be three months, six months, a year or longer, Trump said: “I would say much longer.”
“We will rebuild it in a very profitable way,” Trump said of Venezuela, where he sent troops to seize President Nicolas Maduro in a night raid on January 3.
“We’re going to be using oil, and we’re going to be taking oil. We’re getting oil prices down, and we’re going to be giving money to Venezuela, which they desperately need.”
Trump added that the US was “getting along very well” with the government of the interim president, Delcy Rodriguez, a longstanding Maduro loyalist who had served as the ousted leader’s vice president.
