Rubio Controls Venezuela as De Facto Viceroy
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has established de facto control over Venezuela since U.S. forces captured President Nicolás Maduro in January 2026, functioning as what officials call a “viceroy” over the nation. Rubio oversees Venezuela’s finances, natural resource distribution, government appointments, and foreign policy from Washington without visiting the country in person, maintaining close contact with acting president Delcy Rodríguez through WhatsApp messages where he directs her decisions on defense ministers, business licenses, and public statements.
The U.S. Treasury receives revenue from Venezuela’s oil exports and disburses funds to the country through its banking system, giving Rubio’s team control over spending priorities and conditions. Rubio sets the terms for international business licenses, decides which companies can operate in Venezuela, and has prioritized American oil firms over European competitors while pressuring Rodríguez to abandon partnerships with U.S. adversaries like Russia’s Rosneft. This financial leverage compels Rodríguez to comply with his directives to maintain her government’s ability to pay workers and stabilize the currency.
On taking power, Trump told Rodríguez she could either cooperate with the United States or face attacks on Venezuela’s infrastructure and military bases. When Rodríguez sought assurances after the Justice Department began investigating her, Rubio texted her a Trump social media post praising her performance, then approved her thank-you response before she posted it. The Trump administration halted prosecution of Rodríguez, demanded she extradite Maduro ally Alex Saab for extradition to the U.S., and directed her to remove a foreign minister’s post criticizing the American attack on Iran, effectively stripping Venezuela of independent foreign policy.
Trump has explicitly stated he intends to “run the country” for years and has suggested Venezuela could become the 51st state, framing the arrangement as part of his broader agenda for American expansionism in Greenland, Canada, and the Panama Canal. The administration has deployed 900 military personnel to Venezuela, committed nearly $400 million in aid, and delivered cash following recent earthquakes, using disaster relief to strengthen Rodríguez’s interim government while indefinitely postponing democratic elections.
Rubio has abandoned his previous advocacy for Latin American democracy to enforce what the article describes as “Trump-era American power, in which the winner takes all regardless of sovereignty and international law.” Representative Sean Casten questioned Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent about the constitutional authority for controlling Venezuelan assets, but received no substantive answer, exposing the absence of legal justification for this colonial arrangement.