Marco Rubio announces ‘three-step’ plan for Venezuela amid criticism

The United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Wednesday that the U.S. has a “three-step” plan for Venezuela, following the large-scale strike on the country that ended with the capture of President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, who are facing charges in New York After holding classified briefings for the U.S. Congress, Rubio told reporters the first step of the plan is to stabilize the country.  The process would then move on to the recovery of the country’s economy by “ensuring that American, Western and other companies have access to the Venezuelan market in a way that’s fair,” said Rubio.  The final goal is “rebuilding civil society” in Venezuela and allowing for the transition to a democratic government. The U.S. aims to sell up to 50 million barrels of Venezuelan oil and use the funds to back the new Venezuelan government, led by interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, he explained. “There is a process now in place where we have tremendous control and leverage over what those [remaining Venezuelan authorities] are doing and are able to do,” he said.  “We will control how [the oil revenue] is disbursed in a way that benefits the Venezuelan people, not corruption, not the regime, so we have a lot of leverage to move on the stabilization front.” Rubio said that, beyond the three-stage plan, it will be “up to the Venezuelan people to transform their country.” Criticisms in Congress The plan laid out by Rubio was met with strong criticism by Democrat congress members. “We have yet to hear from them about what the cost of this operation was, and this is about oil,” California Democrat Representative and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters. President Trump warned military operations in Venezuela could continue if remaining members of Maduro’s circle don’t cooperate with the U.S.. On Wednesday the U.S. Navy seized two more oil tankers allegedly linked to Venezuela as part of a “quarantine” set in place since mid-December to block the export of Venezuelan oil.  “They are talking about stealing the Venezuelan oil at gunpoint for a period of time undefined as leverage to micromanage the country,” said Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut. “The scope and insanity of that plan is absolutely stunning,” Murphy told reporters. Trump even faced some remarks from his own party, with Republican Representative Don Bacon from Nebraska admitting the U.S. needs to “show that we have altruistic goals, not just a desire to grab oil resources by propping up illegitimate leaders.”