LatinNews Daily - 12 January 2026

Venezuela: On 7 January US Secretary of State Marco Rubio outlined a “threefold process” with regard to Venezuela, four days after the US capture of former president Nicolás Maduro (2013-2026) who pleaded not guilty to drugs and weapons charges in a New York court on 5 January. In remarks to the press on 7 January regarding the US plan for Venezuela, which is now led by Maduro’s former vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, Rubio said the first step would be the “stabilization of the country”. He described as “part of that stabilization... our [energy] quarantine”, stating that “we are in the midst right now, and in fact about to execute, on a deal to take all the oil”. He said: “We are going to take between 30 and 50 million barrels of oil. We’re going to sell it in the marketplace – at market rates, not at the discounts Venezuela was getting. That money will then be handled in such a way that we will control how it is disbursed in a way that benefits the Venezuelan people – not corruption, not the regime”. Rubio then described the second phase as “recovery”, which he outlined as “ensuring that American, Western, and other companies have access to the Venezuelan market, in a way that’s fair; also, at the same time, begin to create the process of reconciliation nationally within Venezuela so that the opposition forces can be amnestied and released and – from prisons or brought back to the country, and begin to rebuild civil society”. He then described the third phase as “one of transition”.

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