Venezuela's interim president Delcy Rodriguez insists no foreign power is governing her country, after US President Donald Trump says Washington would "run" it pending a transition after ousting her predecessor. "The government of Venezuela is in charge in our country, and no one else. There is no foreign agent governing Venezuela," Rodriguez says in a televised address.
00:00And we are here, governing directly, alongside our people.
00:04The government of Venezuela is the one that truly rules in our country.
00:09No one else.
00:10There is no external agent, no foreign power that dictates how Venezuela is governed.
00:15It is Venezuela and Venezuela alone.
00:19It is his constitutional government.
00:22President Maduro was declaring before a tribunal that he is a prisoner of war.
00:27And they declared themselves to be what they truly are, innocent, decent individuals whose immunity as head of state was unjustly violated and broken.
00:39And, well, the international laws and the laws of Venezuela were completely disregarded and violated.
00:46It is a painful path, painful because of the aggression it suffered, unprecedented in our history, unprecedented in the history of South America, an aggression of this nature.
01:04But the Venezuelan people are active.
01:07They are in the streets marching, a people that does not surrender.
01:12The Venezuelan people, we are a people who will never give in, who will never surrender.
01:19Washington has drawn a hard line for Venezuela's new leadership after kidnapping Nicolas Maduro overnight.
01:27After the dramatic capture of President Nicolas Maduro, President Donald Trump is now laying out blunt demands for interim leader Delcy Rodriguez with a warning, comply or face the same fate.
01:40According to a Politica report citing U.S. officials, the Trump administration has delivered a clear message to Rodriguez.
01:49If she wants to avoid further U.S. military action, Washington expects immediate cooperation on key national security priorities.
01:58Officials say this is a test of whether Caracas is truly ready to change course.
02:04First on Washington's list, drugs.
02:06U.S. officials want Rodriguez to crack down aggressively on narcotics flows into the United States.
02:14Maduro is accused of leading a narco-terror network, charges he denies.
02:19But Washington insists the era of tolerance is over.
02:23Second, the Trump administration wants foreign operatives out.
02:27That includes Iranian, Cuban and other actors Washington considers hostile.
02:32U.S. officials say these networks undermine regional security and must be expelled if relations are to stabilize.
02:40Third, oil.
02:42Rodriguez, who also serves as Venezuela's oil minister, is being told to halt crude sales to U.S. adversaries.
02:50Trump has openly said American companies should move in, rebuild infrastructure and redirect Venezuela's energy output.
02:57Behind the scenes, Washington is also pushing for political change.
03:03U.S. officials expect Rodriguez to eventually allow free elections and step aside.
03:09Though a longtime Maduro ally, Trump's team believes she will comply, warning the alternative could be military action.
03:17Trump made the stakes clear aboard Air Force One.
03:20If they don't behave, we will do a second strike, he warned.
03:25Americans, and a lot of people are wondering, you just sounded like you weighed out another strike, another land strike, at least in Venezuela.
03:31You sound like you weighed that out.
03:33Well, we haven't, we didn't need it.
03:35We were prepared to do a second strike if we needed it.
03:37We're totally prepared.
03:39But that's off the table.
03:39We're still prepared.
03:40That's off the table now.
03:41No, it's not.
03:42If they don't behave, we will do a second strike.
03:44The question is, the American troops, are they going to be on the ground?
03:49They're doing any kind of peacekeeping?
03:50I think Americans are very...
03:51It depends.
03:52It depends on what happens.
03:53It depends a little bit on the new administration, if you want to call it something.
03:57So if you see that pushback from Rodriguez, and ultimately...
04:00Well, I don't think there was pushback.
04:02I think that frankly...
04:03She called it...
04:04Well, you know, you hear a different person than I hear.
04:07Really?
04:08So you high-scoped with her?
04:09We talked to her, yeah.
04:10Oh, you did speak?
04:11They've been very good.
04:12Because she called it kidnapping of Maduro.
04:13It's all right.
04:15It's not a bad turn.
04:16Go ahead.
04:17No, are you going to demand that Delce Rodriguez let opposition figures return or free any political prisoners?
04:23We haven't gotten to that yet.
04:25Right now, what we want to do is fix up the oil, fix up the country, bring the country back, and then have elections.
04:31For Delce Rodriguez, the message is unmistakable.
04:35Cooperate fully or face the full weight of U.S. power.
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