Trump: US to take over Venezuela

U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday (Sunday morning in Manila) said the United States would take over Venezuela following what he described as a “successful” overnight military operation that led to the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in Caracas.

Speaking from Mar-a-Lago in Florida, Trump said U.S. armed forces carried out a coordinated air, land, and sea assault in the Venezuelan capital late Saturday, overwhelming military units loyal to Maduro and arresting the couple.

“We are going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper, and judicious transition,” Trump said.

U.S. forces would remain in Venezuela until a new government is established, he added.

He said the military operation in Venezuela should "serve as a warning" to any group or individual threatening American sovereignty or the lives of U.S. citizens.

"All political and military figures in Venezuela should understand that what happened to Maduro can happen to them, and it will happen to them if they aren't just (and) fair even to their people," he said.

Trump said the U.S. embargo on Venezuelan oil remains in full effect and that American naval forces remain positioned in the region.

He said the United States continues to retain “all military options” as it oversees what he described as a transition period in Venezuela.

The president declared Maduro’s removal as the end of what he called a “dictatorship,” saying Venezuelans were now free after years of political repression. He added that the operation had made the United States and the Western Hemisphere safer.

“America is a safer nation this morning,” Trump said, adding that the U.S. would not allow threats against its security to go unanswered.

Trump said American forces neutralized Venezuela’s military defenses and seized control of key government assets, adding that the operation resulted in no American casualties and no loss of U.S. military equipment.

He said Maduro and Flores are facing federal indictments in the Southern District of New York over alleged narco-terrorism and drug trafficking offenses and are being transported to the United States to stand trial.

Trump accused Maduro of leading a criminal network responsible for trafficking large volumes of illegal drugs into the United States and of deploying violent gangs, including the Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua, to commit crimes in American cities.

He also alleged that the Venezuelan government had seized U.S.-owned oil infrastructure, which he said cost American companies billions of dollars.

Trump said the U.S. government would involve major American oil companies in rebuilding Venezuela’s oil industry, which he described as “badly broken,” adding that revenues would help restore the country’s economy.

The president said an embargo on Venezuelan oil remains in effect and warned that the United States retains all military options should resistance emerge.

He added that the operation was part of a broader strategy to reassert U.S. dominance in the Western Hemisphere.

Trump said a "much larger" second wave of military action had been prepared but was deemed unnecessary due to the success of the initial operation. —MCG, GMA Integrated News