Donald Trump has said that he believes he would be very popular in Venezuela and even suggested that he could run for president there in the future. Speaking during a press conference at the White House on 6 April, he talked about a situation he claimed took place earlier in January involving the country’s leadership.
He said that Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores were captured during a sudden military operation carried out overnight. According to him, the operation was quick and forceful, and once it was over, Delcy Rodríguez was placed in charge of the country.
Trump went on to claim that if he decided to run for president in Venezuela, he would receive very strong support from the people there. He said he believed his approval ratings would be higher than anyone else’s and that this made him confident he could win. He added that after finishing his current responsibilities, he could go to Venezuela and take part in politics there.
He also mentioned that he would learn Spanish if needed, saying he felt confident he could pick it up quickly. However, he then made a joking remark suggesting he might not actually spend the time learning the language, even though it would be useful.
While speaking, he praised Marco Rubio, pointing out that Rubio already speaks fluent Spanish because of his Cuban background, and said that gave him an advantage in dealing with Spanish-speaking countries.
Returning to the events in Venezuela, Trump said the operation to remove Maduro was completed in about 45 minutes. He also claimed that since then, the United States had gained access to a very large amount of oil from Venezuela, worth hundreds of millions of barrels. He said the oil had already been transported, processed, and sold, and that the money earned had more than covered the cost of the military action.
He described the current relationship between the United States and Venezuela as strong, saying the country is now being run by people he considers capable, and that the two nations are working together as partners.
Trump then linked this situation to wider global conflicts, including tensions involving Iran. He suggested that similar outcomes could happen in other conflicts, where the winning side benefits by taking valuable resources. He argued that gaining resources like oil could help pay for expensive wars and reduce the financial burden on the country that carries them out.
