President Donald Trump said early Friday that he had cancelled a “previously expected” second wave of attacks on Venezuela due to the country’s cooperation with the United States.
It comes nearly a week after he ordered a military operation to oust Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who is currently in US custody along with his wife Cilia Flores.
Shortly after that military operation, Trump said in a news conference, “We are ready to stage a second and much larger attack if we need to do so. … We actually assumed that a second wave would be necessary, but now it’s probably not.”
In Friday’s Truth Social post, Trump said the US and Venezuela are “working well together, especially as it pertains to rebuilding, in a much bigger, better, and more modern form, their oil and gas infrastructure.”
“Because of this cooperation, I have cancelled the previously expected second Wave of Attacks, which looks like it will not be needed, however, all ships will stay in place for safety and security purposes,” he added.
Trump went on to say that Venezuela was “releasing large numbers of political prisoners as a sign of ‘Seeking Peace,’” adding, “This is a very important and smart gesture.”
Venezuela began releasing the high-profile prisoners on Thursday, including opposition politicians in an effort to “seek peace,” the acting government said.
Following the military operation last week, US officials had demanded, among other things, that Venezuela’s interim government release political prisoners, according to a source familiar with the US administration’s briefing with key lawmakers this week.
After the ousting of Maduro, Trump had also said the US would effectively “run” the country.
When asked by the New York Times how long the US aims to control Venezuela, whether it would be months, a year or longer, Trump replied, “I would say much longer.”
Trump also has not ruled out the possibility of longer-term military involvement, and said Thursday that his administration will soon begin actions to target cartels on land, following months of strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific.
Trump is set to meet at the White House on Friday with executives from major oil companies to persuade them to increase Venezuela’s oil output and make new investments in the country.
He claimed in his Truth Social post that “at least 100 Billion Dollars will be invested by BIG OIL,” but the oil industry has expressed serious skepticism about ponying up tens of billions of dollars over a decade to restore Venezuela’s oil infrastructure.
The vision for oil production laid out by senior Trump officials, led by Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, would represent an unprecedented exertion of control over a foreign country’s oil resources with no clear timetable or guarantee of success.
Wright told CNN on Wednesday that the administration was “still working out the logistics” of how it plans to sell the oil and deposit the proceeds.
Meanwhile, next week Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado will travel to Washington, DC, and Trump has said he looks forward to saying hello to her when she visits.
Trump said in the news conference following Maduro’s capture that he thinks “it’d be very tough for (Machado) to be the leader.”
“She doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country,” Trump added. “She’s a very nice woman, but she doesn’t have the respect to be leader.”