Channel 1 Los Angeles
Is the United States now at war with Venezuela?
SECRETARY RUBIO: There’s not a war. I mean, what’s – we are at war against drug trafficking organizations. It’s not a war against Venezuela. We are enforcing American laws with regards to oil sanctions. We have sanctioned entities; we go to court, we get a warrant, we seize those boats with oil. And that will continue. So the clear – and we continue to reserve the right to take strikes against drug boats that are bringing drugs towards the United States that are being operated by transnational criminal organizations, including the Cartel de los Soles. Of course, their leader – the leader of that cartel – is now in U.S. custody and facing U.S. justice in the Southern District of New York, and that’s Nicolás Maduro. So we made big progress in that regard.
who is in charge? Are you running Venezuela right now?
SECRETARY RUBIO: Yeah, I mean, I keep people fixating on that. Here’s the bottom line on it, is we expect to see changes in Venezuela, changes of all kinds – long term, short term. We’d love to see all kinds of changes. But the most immediate changes are the ones that are in the national interest of the United States. That’s why we’re involved here, because of how it applies and has a direct impact on the United States, okay? We are not going to be able to allow in our hemisphere a country that becomes a crossroads for the activities of all of our adversaries around the world. We just can’t allow it. We can’t have a country where the people in charge of its military and in charge of its police department are openly cooperating with drug trafficking organizations. We can’t – we’re not going to allow that. These are – these things are direct threats to the United States, and we intend to use every element of leverage that we have to ensure that that changes.
The one I would point everyone to is that our military is helping the Coast Guard conduct a law enforcement function, which is not just the capture of Maduro, but the enforcement of our sanctions. We go to court, we get a warrant, we seize the boats. And we think this is tremendous leverage – incredible, crippling leverage – which we intend to continue to use until we see the changes that we need to see that are a benefit to the American people – and by the way, we believe to the people of Venezuela as well.