Marco Rubio Calls Delcy Rodríguez After U.S. Troops Seize Nicolás Maduro

In the hours after U.S. military forces spirited away Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Jan. 3, Secretary of State Marco Rubio placed a call to Maduro’s second-in-command, Vice President Delcy Rodríguez.

The BBC reported that since September the Donald Trump administration has deployed about 15,000 troops and more than 20% of the U.S. Navy's combat capability in Caribbean waters off Venezuela's coast, with the stated objective of combating drug trafficking.

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The BBC also said analysts agree with Maduro that Washington’s ultimate aim is probably to trigger a regime change in Venezuela.

In the same BBC account, Fernando Reyes Matta, director of the Center for China Studies at Andrés Bello University in Chile, said Maduro has “little time left” and that support “is no longer real, beyond some rhetorical statements.”

The BBC described how, when Hugo Chávez came to power in 1999, he forged strategic alliances with China and Russia, and how those relationships proved crucial in 2019 when Beijing and Moscow refused to internationally recognize opposition leader Juan Guaidó.

It said that six years later Maduro is facing a new crisis, but “neither China nor Russia has shown willingness to support him beyond generic calls for calm and non-interference.”

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The BBC quoted Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova saying her country offered “firm support for the Venezuelan authorities in defending national sovereignty.”

In that same BBC report, the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was questioned about Moscow’s aid to Caracas and “declined to provide further details.”

The United States is negotiating India’s purchase of Venezuelan oil, American envoy Sergio Gor said on Friday, adding that the U.S. Department of Energy “is in discussion” with India and that “we hope to have news on this very soon.”

Gor told reporters that “The United States wants no one to buy Russian oil,” and he said the final version of the interim agreement would be signed “very soon.”

Separately, a White House briefing cited in lecourrier.vn said the Trump administration could take further similar measures against sanctioned oil traders near Venezuela, and that the seized tanker would be directed to a U.S. port and is “currently the subject of confiscation proceedings.”

At that same briefing, White House press statements attributed to Ms. Leavitt said, “The United States does intend to seize the oil,” but that “the seizure of this oil must follow a legal procedure, and that procedure will be observed.”