Video: Trump vows US control of Venezuela until ‘proper transition,’ eyes massive oil investment
Abdullateef Fowewe
United States President, Donald Trump has announced plans for the United States to maintain oversight in Venezuela, ensuring a stable transition away from decades of dictatorship while positioning American oil giants to revitalise the nation’s crumbling energy sector.
Video: Trump vows US control of Venezuela until ‘proper transition,’ eyes massive oil investment
Addressing the press on Saturday, Trump emphasised protecting Venezuelan expatriates who wish to return home.
“Venezuela that are now living in the United States and want to go back to their country—it’s their homeland,” he said.
He warned against allowing “somebody else takes over—a Venezuelan who doesn’t have the good of the Venezuelan people in mind,” pledging, “we’re not going to let that happen where they are now.”
Trump detailed a U.S.-led strategy for long-term involvement.
“We’re there now, but we’re going to stay until such time as the proper transition can take place. So we’re going to run it essentially until a proper transition can take place,” said Trump.
This comes amid reports of successful initial operations, which he described as the “first wave—if you’d like to call it the first attack.”
Trump highlighted Venezuela’s underperforming oil industry, calling it “a total bust for a long period of time.”
He outlined ambitious plans for U.S. companies, “We’re going to have our very large United States oil companies—the biggest anywhere in the world—go and spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure, and start making money for the country.”
On military posture, Trump revealed preparedness for escalation.
“We are ready to stage a second, a much larger attack if we need to do so a second wave if we need to do so,” he stated.
However, he added optimism, “The first wave was so successful, you probably don’t have to do a second, but we’re prepared to do a second wave, a much bigger wave actually.”
