The new acting president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodriguez, pledged “cooperation” with the United States following the arrest of Nicolás Maduro.
“We invite the US government to collaborate with us on an agenda of cooperation oriented towards shared development within the framework of international law to strengthen lasting community coexistence,” Rodriguez said on social media. “President Donald Trump, our peoples and our region deserve peace and dialogue, not war. This has always been President Nicolás Maduro’s message, and it is the message of all of Venezuela right now.”
Prior to Rodriguez’s statement, President Trump warned The Atlantic that she “is going to pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro,” if she “doesn’t do what’s right.”
President Trump told reporters over the weekend that he aims to restore Venezuela.
“We have to do one thing in Venezuela: Bring it back,” Trump said, as per The New York Post. “It’s a dead country right now … We have to bring it back. And we’re going to have to have big investments by the oil companies to bring back the infrastructure. Companies are ready to go. They’re going to go in. They’re going to rebuild the infrastructure.”
“We’re not going to invest anything,” Trump later explained. “We’re going to just take care of the country. We’re going to cherish the country. We’re going to take care of, more importantly, of the people, including Venezuelans, that are living in our country, that were forced to leave their country. And they’re going to be taken very good care of.”
