Marco Rubio Ascended Capitol Hill to lay Out Trump’s Venezuela Plan
Trump captured a socialist dictator.
Now Secretary of State Marco Rubio has revealed exactly how the President plans to handle Venezuela going forward.
And Marco Rubio went to Capitol Hill to lay out Trump's Venezuela plan.
Rubio drops the hammer on Capitol Hill
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth briefed senators Wednesday on Trump's three-phase plan for Venezuela after the stunning Delta Force raid that captured Nicolas Maduro.
Rubio explained Trump's roadmap starts with "stabilization" through an oil quarantine that's already choking Venezuela's economy.
"We don't want it descending into chaos," Rubio told reporters after the classified briefing.
The quarantine is Trump's ace in the hole.
Venezuela can't move a single barrel of sanctioned oil without the U.S. seizing it.
"We are going to take between 30 and 50 million barrels of oil," Rubio said.
"We're going to sell it in the marketplace, at market rates, not at the discounts Venezuela was getting."
Trump's team will control every dime from those oil sales.
"That money will then be handled in such a way that we will control how it is dispersed in a way that benefits the Venezuelan people, not corruption, not the regime," Rubio explained.
The Coast Guard already seized two more tankers Wednesday as Rubio spoke.
Venezuela's new interim president Delcy Rodriguez knows she has zero leverage.
Phase two puts American companies back in control
Rubio laid out the second phase as "recovery" – getting Western oil companies into Venezuela's deteriorating oil fields.
The country sits on 300 billion barrels of oil, the largest proven reserves on Earth.
Maduro's socialist regime destroyed those oil fields over two decades.
Trump wants American companies to rebuild it from scratch.
"The second phase will be a phase that we call recovery, and that is ensuring that American, Western and other companies have access to the Venezuelan market in a way that's fair," Rubio stated.
Phase two also includes releasing opposition leaders from prison and bringing exiled activists back to rebuild civil society.
María Corina Machado, the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize winner with major ties, allegedly, to a CIA-backed cocaine smuggling operation, would love a shot at bringing ‘democracy’ to Venezuela.
Rubio said opposition forces "can be amnestied and released from prisons or brought back to the country and begin to rebuild civil society."
The transition phase to remake Venezuela
The third phase is "transition" but Rubio kept the details close to the vest.
"The third phase, of course, will be one of transition," Rubio told reporters.
"We feel like we'll be moving forward here in a very positive way."
Here's what that really means: Trump's team is already negotiating behind the scenes with Venezuelan military leaders and opposition figures.
Rodriguez was sworn in as interim president but she may only end up being a placeholder.
Trump made clear Saturday he'll decide when Venezuela holds elections and who gets to participate.
RINO U.S. Senator John Thune (RINO-SD) called it "decisive action" and praised the operation.
Rewriting or just returning to the old rules in Latin America?
Rubio's plan shows Trump learned from his first term mistakes in Venezuela.
Back in 2019, Trump recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido as interim president.
Maduro stayed in power anyway because Trump's team didn't have the leverage to force him out.
This time Trump built an armada in the Caribbean, seized Venezuela's oil infrastructure, and sent Delta Force to drag Maduro out of bed.
The oil quarantine gives Trump total control over Venezuela's economy.
Rodriguez can't pay government workers or import food without Trump's permission.
Who do you think they’ll blame if that doesn’t happen? Her, him, both?
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Energy Secretary Chris Wright are already talking to American oil companies about investing billions to fix Venezuela's broken industry.
Rubio said Western refineries on the Gulf Coast are "the best in terms of refining this heavy crude" and there will be "tremendous interest" from companies.
Rubio's longtime goal of toppling Cuba's communist regime just got a lot easier too.
Cuba survived for years on cheap oil from Venezuela.
Now that pipeline is cut off permanently.
"If I lived in Havana and I was in the government, I'd be concerned," Rubio said Saturday.
Maduro faces federal charges dating back to 2020 for conspiracy to import cocaine and weapons violations.
https://twitter.com/MikeBenzCyber/status/2008634599459475558
Sources:
- Barbara Sprunt, "Rubio and Hegseth brief lawmakers on 'three fold process' for Venezuela," NPR, January 7, 2026.
- Courtney Kube, Peter Nicholas, Julie Tsirkin, Matt Dixon, Monica Alba, "How the U.S. captured Maduro in Venezuela: A CIA team, steel doors and a fateful phone call," NBC News, January 3, 2026.
- Margaret Brennan, "Rubio says U.S. has 'tremendous leverage' over Venezuela, will control money from oil sales," CBS News, January 7, 2026.
- Jennifer A. Dlouhy, Kasia Klimasinska, Derek Wallbank, "Rubio Seizes Chance to Remake Latin America in Venezuela Gambit," Bloomberg, January 5, 2026.
