Running Venezuela

January 55, 2026

Vol. 14, No. 2382

RUNNING MAN: Two days after the precision military snatch and grab that brought Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro and his wife to the US on charges of terrorism and narco-trafficking, there’s little coherent word on what comes next for Venezuela.

Maduro is being held in Brooklyn and could appear in federal court today.

Creating a headline bigger that news of the assault itself, President Trump said during his lengthy Saturday press conference that the US will, “run” Venezuela “until such time as we can do a safe, proper, and judicious transition.” But backing away from that only a day later, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Sunday talk shows that the US would “run” Venezuela only through coercive policies.

In a testy exchange on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Rubio complained that critics were “fixating” on Trump’s declaration that the US government would run Venezuela. “It’s not running — it’s running policy, the policy with regards to this,” he said.