By Gloria Ogbonna
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday that Venezuela must first achieve economic stability and political reconciliation before the country can move toward choosing a new leader through free and fair elections following the removal of narco-terrorist dictator Nicolás Maduro.
Speaking at a press conference in Washington, DC, alongside Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Rubio outlined what he described as a carefully structured three-step roadmap for Venezuela’s future: stabilization, recovery, and transition.
According to Rubio, each phase is essential and must be completed in order to ensure lasting peace, economic security, and democratic legitimacy in the South American nation.
“Step one is the stabilization of the country,” Rubio explained. “We don’t want Venezuela descending into chaos.”
He emphasized that the United States believes it currently holds significant leverage to guide this stabilization process, largely through what he referred to as a strategic “quarantine” of sanctioned Venezuelan oil.
Rubio pointed to Wednesday’s high-profile seizure of two sanctions-evading “shadow fleet” oil tankers as proof that the strategy is already producing results. One of the tankers, he noted, was attempting to evade enforcement by sailing under a Russian flag.
These actions, Rubio said, demonstrate that U.S. pressure on illicit oil operations is strong enough to begin restoring order to Venezuela’s economy.
As part of the stabilization phase, Rubio announced that the United States plans to take control of between 30 and 50 million barrels of Venezuelan oil and sell them on the open market at full market rates rather than the steep discounts previously accepted under Maduro’s regime. Crucially, he stressed that the proceeds from these sales would be tightly controlled to ensure they benefit ordinary Venezuelans rather than corrupt officials or regime loyalists.
“That money will be handled in such a way that we will control how it is disbursed,” Rubio said. “It will benefit the Venezuelan people—not corruption, not the regime.”
Once the economy is stabilized and oil revenues are redirected toward the public good, Rubio said Venezuela would move into the second phase: recovery.
This stage would focus on rebuilding the country’s political and economic foundations after years of damage caused by what Rubio described as Maduro’s failed socialist policies.
The recovery phase, he explained, would include creating a secure environment for investment and ensuring that American, Western, and allied companies are given fair access to Venezuela’s market.
Rubio also stressed that political reconciliation would be central to this stage, including the release or amnesty of opposition figures, the freeing of political prisoners, and the return of exiled leaders to help rebuild civil society.
“We need an environment where opposition forces can come home, rebuild institutions, and begin the hard work of restoring democracy,” Rubio said.
Only after stabilization and recovery are complete, Rubio said, would Venezuela enter the third and final phase: transition.
This phase would involve the selection of a successor government through legitimate democratic elections. While Rubio acknowledged widespread public impatience for immediate change, he cautioned that lasting transformation cannot happen overnight.
“I understand that in today’s world everyone wants instant outcomes,” he said. “But this is not going to work that way.”
Rubio emphasized that the three-phase plan is not theoretical, insisting that it is already underway. As evidence, he cited Venezuela’s agreement to sell up to 50 million barrels of oil to the United States under strict oversight designed to prevent corruption.
“We feel very positive,” Rubio said. “This not only generates revenue for the Venezuelan people, but it also gives us leverage, influence, and control over how this process moves forward.”
During the press conference, Rubio was also asked about European concerns that aggressive U.S. foreign policy actions such as warnings related to Greenland could strain or even fracture NATO.
Rubio responded that every American president retains the option to use military force to protect national security, but stressed that President Donald Trump prefers diplomatic solutions whenever possible.
“That includes Venezuela,” Rubio said. “We tried repeatedly to reach a peaceful outcome that did not involve going in and arresting an indicted drug trafficker. Unfortunately, those efforts failed.”
Rubio further argued that leaving certain elements of the former Maduro regime in place temporarily while subjecting them to what he called “tremendous control and leverage” from the United States was necessary to manage Venezuela’s short-term affairs and complete the first two phases of the plan. He acknowledged that predicting how long the full transition would take remains difficult.
When reporters pressed for details about the cost of the operation and whether it would require American troops on the ground, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth sharply pushed back. He accused the media of focusing on financial minutiae in an attempt to undermine what he described as a historic and highly sophisticated mission.
“You’re trying to find any angle possible to diminish the success of one of the most historic military missions the world has ever seen,” Hegseth said. He added that classified briefings provided to Congress revealed a level of operational sophistication that only the United States is capable of executing.
Rubio concluded by noting that Venezuela’s interim leadership has requested that oil seized from one of the captured tankers be included in the initial oil agreement with the United States.
“They understand that the only way to move oil, generate revenue, and avoid economic collapse is to cooperate with the United States,” Rubio said.
Source Breitbrat
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