Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended U.S. action in Venezuela, saying the decision was made in the national interest and has improved conditions in the country in the weeks since the removal of its former leader.
Rubio pushed back on criticism from other nations during remarks in which he argued that international approval is not required for the United States to act.
“Let me just make one more point, because I think you asked him a question in order to, like, see if you can get him against us with some thing about, oh, you criticize a lot of countries. Didn’t like what we did in Venezuela. That’s okay. That was in our national interest. I’m sure there’s something he’ll do one day that we don’t like, and we’ll say, hey, we didn’t like you did this. So what? That doesn’t mean we’re not going to be friends, we’re not going to be partners, we’re not going to be able to cooperate with one another. Countries express their opinion all the time. We have very close allies that didn’t like what we did.”
Rubio said the operation achieved its objective and described it as both necessary and successful.
“In that regard, I can tell you what it was successful. We’re proud of. It was necessary because the guy was a narco terrorist, and we made him a bunch of offers, and he chose and look what’s happened in Venezuela in the six weeks since he’s been gone. Okay, it is a now. It’s got a long way to go. There’s still much work that needs to be done, but I can tell you, Venezuela is much better off today than it was six weeks ago.”
Rubio acknowledged that some governments disagreed with the U.S. action but said those differences do not prevent cooperation.
“So you know, we’re very proud of that project. And you know, I know some will disagree and didn’t like But irrespective, I think everyone can now agree that Venezuela has an opportunity at a new future that wasn’t there six weeks ago.”
Rubio maintained that the removal of what he described as a “narco terrorist” leader changed the trajectory of Venezuela within six weeks, even as he noted that additional work remains.
He said that while the country “has got a long way to go” and “there’s still much work that needs to be done,” it is “much better off today than it was six weeks ago.”
Rubio emphasized that the United States will continue to make decisions based on its own interests, regardless of outside criticism, and argued that Venezuela now has “an opportunity at a new future that wasn’t there six weeks ago.”
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