How Rubio Is Winning Over Trumpworld On Striking Venezuela - Beritaja

In the early days of President Trump’s 2nd term, the U.S. appeared keen to cooperate pinch Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela’s authoritarian leader. Special envoy Ric Grenell met Maduro, moving pinch him to coordinate deportation flights to Caracas, a captive speech woody and an statement allowing Chevron to drill Venezuelan oil.

Grenell told disappointed members of Venezuela’s guidance that Trump’s home goals took privilege complete efforts to beforehand democracy. “We’re not willing successful authorities change,” Grenell told the group, according to 2 sources acquainted pinch the meeting.

But Marco Rubio, Trump’s caput of State, had a different vision.

In a parallel telephone pinch María Corina Machado and Edmundo González Urrutia, 2 leaders of the opposition, Rubio affirmed U.S. support “for the restoration of populist successful Venezuela” and called González “the rightful president” of the beleaguered federation aft Maduro rigged past year’s predetermination successful his favor.

Rubio, now besides serving arsenic nationalist information advisor, has grown person to Trump and crafted an fierce caller argumentation toward Maduro that has brought Venezuela and the United States to the brink of subject confrontation.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio whispers to President Trump during a roundtable gathering astatine the White House connected Oct. 8, 2025.

(Evan Vucci / Associated Press)

Grenell has been sidelined, 2 sources told The Times, arsenic the U.S. conducts an unprecedented run of deadly strikes connected suspected Venezuelan supplier boats — and builds up subject assets successful the Caribbean. Trump said Wednesday that he has authorized the CIA to behaviour covert action in the South American nation, and that strikes connected onshore targets could beryllium next.

“I deliberation Venezuela is emotion the heat,” he said.

The unit run marks a awesome triumph for Rubio, the boy of Cuban emigres and an unexpected powerfulness subordinate successful the management who has managed to sway apical leaders of the isolationist MAGA activity to his lifelong effort to topple Latin America’s leftist authoritarians.

“It’s very clear that Rubio has won,” said James B. Story, who served arsenic ambassador to Venezuela nether President Biden. “The management is applying subject unit successful the dream that personification wrong of the authorities renders Maduro to justice, either by exiling him, sending him to the United States aliases sending him to his maker.”

In a caller nationalist connection to Trump, Maduro acknowledged that Rubio is now driving White House policy: “You person to beryllium observant because Marco Rubio wants your hands stained pinch blood, pinch South American blood, Caribbean blood, Venezuelan blood,” Maduro said.

As a legislator from Florida, Rubio represented exiles from 3 leftist autocracies — Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela — and for years he has made it his ngo to weaken their governments. He says his family could not return to Cuba aft Fidel Castro’s gyration 7 decades ago. He has agelong maintained that eliminating Maduro would woody a fatal rustle to Cuba, whose system has been buoyed by billions of dollars successful Venezuelan lipid successful the look of punishing U.S. sanctions.

In 2019, Rubio pushed Trump to backmost Juan Guaidó, a Venezuelan guidance leader who sought unsuccessfully to topple Maduro.

Rubio later encouraged Trump to publically support Machado, who was barred from the ballot successful Venezuela’s 2024 statesmanlike election, and who past week was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her pro-democracy efforts. González, who ran successful Machado’s place, won the election, according to ballot tallies gathered by the opposition, yet Maduro declared victory.

Rubio was convinced that only subject mightiness would bring alteration to Venezuela, which has been plunged into situation nether Maduro’s rule, pinch a 4th of the organization fleeing poverty, unit and governmental repression.

But location was a hitch. Trump has many times vowed to not intervene successful the authorities of different nations, telling a Middle Eastern assemblage successful May that the U.S. “would nary longer beryllium giving you lectures connected really to live.”

Denouncing decades of U.S. overseas policy, Trump complained that “the interventionalists were intervening successful analyzable societies that they did not moreover understand.”

To antagonistic that sentiment, Rubio painted Maduro successful a caller ray that he hoped would spark liking from Trump, who has been fixated connected combating immigration, forbidden narcotics and Latin American cartels since his first statesmanlike campaign.

Venezuelan statesmanlike campaigner Edmundo González Urrutia, right, and guidance leader María Corina Machado shake hands supporters during a run rally successful Valencia earlier the country’s statesmanlike predetermination successful 2024.

(Ariana Cubillos / Associated Press)

Going aft Maduro, Rubio argued, was not about promoting populist aliases a alteration of governments. It was striking a supplier kingpin fueling crime successful American streets, an pandemic of American overdoses, and a flood of forbidden migration to America’s borders.

Rubio tied Maduro to Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan thoroughfare pack whose members the caput of State says are “worse than Al Qaeda.”

“Venezuela is governed by a narco-trafficking statement that has empowered itself arsenic a federation state,” he said during his Senate confirmation hearing.

Meanwhile, salient members of Venezuela’s guidance pushed the aforesaid message. “Maduro is the caput of a narco-terrorist structure,” Machado told Fox News past month.

Security analysts and U.S. intelligence officials propose that the links betwixt Maduro and Tren de Aragua are overblown.

A declassified memo by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence recovered nary grounds of wide practice betwixt Maduro’s authorities and the gang. It besides said Tren de Aragua does not airs a threat to the U.S.

The pack does not postulation fentanyl, and the Drug Enforcement Administration estimates that conscionable 8% of cocaine that reaches the U.S. passes done Venezuelan territory.

Still, Rubio’s strategy appears to person worked.

In July, Trump declared that Tren de Aragua was a violent group led by Maduro — and past ordered the Pentagon to usage subject unit against cartels that the U.S. authorities had branded terrorists.

Trump deployed thousands of U.S. troops and a mini armada of ships and warplanes to the Caribbean and has ordered strikes connected 5 boats disconnected the seashore of Venezuela, resulting successful 24 deaths. The management says the victims were “narco-terrorists” but has provided nary evidence.

Elliott Abrams, a seasoned diplomat who served arsenic typical envoy to Venezuela successful Trump’s first term, said he believes the White House will transportation retired constricted strikes successful Venezuela.

“I deliberation the adjacent measurement is that they’re going to deed thing successful Venezuela — and I don’t mean boots connected the ground. That’s not Trump,” Abrams said. “It’s a strike, and past it’s over. That’s very debased consequence to the United States.”

He continued: “Now, would it beryllium bully if that benignant of activity spurred a colonel to lead a coup? Yeah, it would beryllium nice. But the management is ne'er going to opportunity that.”

Even if Trump refrains from a crushed invasion, location are awesome risks.

“If it’s a war, past what is the war’s aim? Is it to overthrow Maduro? Is it much than Maduro? Is it to get a democratically elected president and a antiauthoritarian authorities successful power?” said John Yoo, a professor of rule astatine UC Berkeley, who served arsenic a apical ineligible advisor to the George W. Bush administration. “The American group will want to cognize what’s the extremity state, what’s the extremity of each of this.”

“Whenever you person 2 militaries bristling that adjacent together, location could beryllium existent action,” said Christopher Sabatini, a elder chap for Latin America astatine the deliberation vessel Chatham House. “Trump is trying to do this connected the cheap. He’s hoping possibly he won’t person to commit. But it’s a slippery slope. This could tie the United States into a war.”

Sabatini and others added that moreover if the U.S. unit drives retired Maduro, what follows is acold from certain.

Venezuela is dominated by a patchwork of guerrilla and paramilitary groups that person enriched themselves pinch golden smuggling, supplier trafficking and different illicit activities. None person inducement to laic down arms.

And the country’s guidance is acold from unified.

Machado, who dedicated her Nobel Prize to Trump successful a clear effort to summation his support, says she is prepared to govern Venezuela. But location are others — some successful exile and successful Maduro’s management — who would for illustration to lead the country.

Machado protagonist Juan Fernandez said thing would beryllium amended than maintaining the position quo.

“Some opportunity we’re not prepared, that a modulation would origin instability,” he said. “How could Maduro beryllium the unafraid prime erstwhile 8 cardinal Venezuelans person left, erstwhile location is nary gasoline, governmental persecution and rampant inflation?”

Fernandez praised Rubio for pushing the Venezuela rumor toward “an inflection point.”

What a difference, he said, to person a decision-maker successful the White House pinch family roots successful different state agelong oppressed by an authoritarian regime.

“He perfectly understands our situation,” Fernandez said. “And now he has 1 of the highest positions successful the United States.”

Linthicum reported from Mexico City, Wilner from Dallas and Ceballos from Washington. Special analogous Mery Mogollón successful Caracas contributed to this report.