There have been jokes for months about the number of jobs Marco Rubio has held during Donald Trump’s second term, and for good reason: The president has tapped the former senator to serve as the secretary of state, the acting White House national security adviser, the acting administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), as well as the acting archivist for the National Archives.
It led The New York Times to describe the Florida Republican as the “Secretary of Everything.”
What’s generated less attention is a far more provocative part of Rubio’s portfolio: The United States’ chief diplomat is also helping oversee day-to-day operations in Venezuela, a South American country that’s more than 1,000 miles away from American soil.
Six months after a brief U.S. military operation led to the detention of then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, followed closely by Trump’s curious boast that he and his administration were “in charge” of the foreign country, The New York Times published a striking report earlier this month, noting that Rubio is, for all intents and purposes, “running” Venezuela, serving as the country’s “de facto viceroy.”
The Times’ report added, “The U.S. Treasury receives the revenue from most of Venezuela’s exports, then disburses it to Venezuela through the country’s banking system, a relationship akin to parents handing out allowances to children. Mr. Rubio and his team set the conditions on what that money can be spent on, and by whom.”
For his part, Trump appears quite proud of all this. Indeed, the American president, who bragged last week that his familiarity with Venezuela is rooted in his previous ownership of the Miss Universe pageant, has repeatedly spoken publicly about having “taken over” the South American country and seizing control of its oil resources — “We’re taking a lot,” the Republican claimed — which he’s said the United States is “entitled” to.
With this in mind, the Financial Times recently reported that the U.S. administration has taken in roughly $13 billion of Venezuelan oil money, though there’s something of a mystery surrounding what exactly Trump and his team have done with the money.
On Monday afternoon, a reporter pressed the American president on this issue for the first time.
“There’s some reports that the United States has taken in $13 billion from Venezuela,” a reporter asked during an Air Force One Q&A. “Where is that money going?”
Instead of answering directly, Trump responded that the total is actually “even more” than $13 billion.
“But where’s that money going?” the reporter followed up.
Trump again ignored the question, explaining that there was “a cost” to the U.S. military offensive in January (he recently began referring to the operation as a “war,” which continues to be a stretch), and his seizure of Venezuelan resources has covered that cost “many, many times over.”
The back-and-forth continued. “But where is the money going?” the reporter asked, trying to get a straight answer.
“It goes toward running the country,” Trump responded.
Asked once again where the money is going, the Republican again replied, “Towards running the country. It can go to the military. Congress has to approve it. … We’re taking in a lot of money. Billions and billions of dollars from Venezuela.”
In other words, Trump attacked a foreign country, detained its leader, took control of the country’s day-to-day governance and seized its resources, but he doesn’t want to say what he’s doing with the profits.
Presumably, the officials elected by the Venezuelan people to represent their interests might have some concerns about all of this, but Trump declared late last week that, as far as he’s concerned, Venezuela is “not really ready” for elections, leaving his administration in charge of the country until the president decides otherwise.
“What the U.S. is doing to Venezuela counts as nothing but colonization,” MS NOW’s Zeeshan Aleem recently wrote. The White House and its allies might balk at the characterization, but I’m hard-pressed to imagine a more appropriate choice of words.
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