Rubio says US won’t govern Venezuela but will press changes through oil blockade

The secretary of state said earlier Sunday on NBC that Cuban officers “are the ones that were propping up Maduro. His entire, like, internal security force, his internal security apparatus is entirely controlled by Cubans.”

“It’s amazing this poor island took over Venezuela, in some cases,” Rubio said. “One of the biggest problems that Venezuelans have is they have to declare independence from Cuba. They tried to basically colonize it from a security standpoint.”

Before the Cuban announcement, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he flew Sunday night from Florida back to Washington that, “You know, a lot of Cubans were killed yesterday.”

“There was a lot of death on the other side. No death on our side,” Trump said.

American strikes in Venezuela killed 32 Cuban officers in the military operation over the weekend, the Cuban government announced on Sunday in a statement read on Cuban state TV.

It was the first official death count announced by any authority following the American strikes.

What the Cubans were working on in the South American nation was unclear, but Cuba is a close ally of Venezuela’s government and has sent military and police forces to assist in operations for years.

Cuba’s government announced two days of mourning because of the deaths.

“Faithful to their responsibilities for security and defense, our compatriots fulfilled their duty with dignity and heroism and fell after fierce resistance in direct combat against the attackers or as a result of the bombings of the facilities,” the official statement said.

In his comments aboard Air Force One, Trump said Venezuela was sick and needed U.S. support, adding, “Colombia’s very sick too. Run by a sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States. And he’s not going to be doing it very long.”

Asked if that might mean a U.S. operation that could target Colombia President Gustavo Petro, Trump responded, “Sounds good to me.”

He later said, “You have to do something with Mexico. Mexico has to get their act together,” and better combat drug trafficking.

Trump said he’d repeatedly offered U.S. troops to Mexico but that country’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, is “concerned, she’s a little afraid.”

Questioned about U.S. military force in Cuba, however, Trump said, “I think it’s just going to fall.”

“I don’t think we need any action,” the president said.

Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that “a lot of Cubans were killed” during the intervention to capture Maduro.

He didn’t specify how many Cubans were killed but said “there was a lot of death on the other side.”

Asked whether he was considering taking military action against Cuba, Trump said the country is “going down for the count.”

The U.S. has said Cuba, a close ally of Maduro’s administration, provided security advisers to Venezuela’s government.

Speaking to reporters on Air Force One, Trump said he wanted Venezuela’s vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, to provide “total access” to the country.

Trump threatened that the vice president “will face a situation probably worse than Maduro” if she doesn’t cooperate with the U.S.

Comments from Trump and Rubio underscore that the U.S. administration is serious about taking a more expansive role in the Western Hemisphere.

A day after the military operation in Venezuela, Trump renewed his calls for a U.S. takeover of the Danish territory of Greenland for the sake of U.S. security interests, while his secretary of state declared the communist government in Cuba is “in a lot of trouble.”

Trump has also pointed to the 19th century Monroe Doctrine, which rejects European colonialism, as well as the Roosevelt Corollary — a justification invoked by the U.S. in supporting Panama’s secession from Colombia, which helped secure the Panama Canal Zone for the U.S. — as he’s made his case for an assertive approach to American neighbors and beyond.

With thinly veiled threats, Trump is rattling hemispheric friends and foes alike, spurring a pointed question around the globe: Who’s next?

▶Read more about Trump’s potential plans for Greenland and Cuba

Edmundo González, who is widely believed to have won the country’s 2024 elections, called on Venezuela’s military in a video statement on Sunday night to withdraw its support of Maduro.

González said that Venezuela was at an “inflection point” that could pave the path to democracy.

“The person who usurped power (Maduro) is no longer in the country and is facing justice,” he said. “This shapes a new political scenario.”

González did not go as far as to insist that he be named president, but requested that the government recognize the results of the 2024 elections. It wasn’t clear if he wanted Delcy Rodríguez, the next in line in Maduro’s chain of succession, to step down.

Trump has said that his administration had been in contact with Rodríguez, Venezuela’s interim president, and wanted her to help fulfill their vision for the future of the South American nation.

The president’s plan to take control of the oil sector and have U.S. companies revitalize it also isn’t likely to have a significant immediate impact on oil prices.

Venezuela’s oil industry is in disrepair after years of neglect and international sanctions, so it could take years and major investments before production can increase dramatically.

Some analysts are optimistic that Venezuela could double or triple its current output of about 1.1 million barrels of oil a day to return to historic levels fairly quickly.

But American oil companies will want a stable regime in place before they are willing to invest heavily.

The price of U.S. crude oil fell .44% to $57.07 per barrel on Sunday evening. A major shift in oil prices wasn’t expected because Venezuela is a member of OPEC, so its production is already accounted for there. And there is currently a surplus of oil on the global market.

Venezuela is known to have the world’s largest proven crude oil reserves of approximately 303 billion barrels, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. That accounts for roughly 17% of all global oil reserves.

▶Read more about Trump’s plan and Venezuela’s oil industry

Rodríguez, a 56-year-old lawyer and politician, served as Maduro’s vice president since 2018, overseeing much of Venezuela’s oil-dependent economy and its feared intelligence service.

She was next in the presidential line of succession. She’s also part of a band of senior officials in Maduro’s administration that now appears to control Venezuela, even as Trump and other U.S. officials say they will pressure the government to fall in line with their vision for the oil-rich nation.

Venezuela’s high court ordered Rodriguez to assume the role of interim president on Saturday, and she was backed by Venezuela’s military.

In a televised address, Rodríguez gave no indication that she would cooperate with Trump, referring to his government as “extremists.”

▶Read more about Delcy Rodríguez, Venezuela’s interim president and Maduro ally

Members of the city’s Venezuelan community gathered at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul to pray for their home country and share thoughts about the weekend’s events.

About 100 people attended the Spanish-language service, with some holding Venezuelan flags.

Andrea Abati, a Venezuelan college student, said some of her fellow citizens are pleased to see Maduro’s removal, but at the same time they are uncertain about what comes next.

“It’s a mix of feelings between happiness, because finally it was happening what we wanted to happen in a way, and at the same time just thinking what’s next,” she said. “I think for everyone it was very shocking at the beginning and it’s still shocking. I think we are still all processing what’s going on.”

“As a Venezuelan, seeing Caracas getting bombed was something that scared us,” said Gil Arends, who owns a Venezuelan restaurant in Philadelphia. “But we’re also filled with some hope that things will get better and we can transition out of the dictatorship and into democracy again.”

People were slow to resume routines in Caracas after Maduro’s capture. Dozens of stores, restaurants and churches remained closed. Those on the streets looked shell-shocked, staring at their phones or into the distance.

“People are still shaken,” said 77-year-old David Leal, who arrived to work as a parking attendant but realized he likely would not have customers. He pointed to the deserted street, a few blocks from Venezuela’s presidential palace, which was guarded by armed civilians and military personnel.

State-controlled media did not air the images of Maduro handcuffed on U.S. soil. Venezuelans instead saw them on social media, and many could not believe their eyes.

“May God give us strength for what we are experiencing. I’m sad. He is a human being,” said Nely Gutiérrez, a retiree, as her eyes welled with tears. “They have him handcuffed, and if he is in the hands of the empire, no one can save him from there, only God, not even God. He will die there.”

Gutiérrez had walked to church only to find it closed. She said she would have prayed for peace in Venezuela and for Maduro. She declined to say whether she ever voted for him but said, “The word of God says love your enemy.”

▶Read more about the scene in Caracas

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An armed civilian takes part in a pro-government protest demanding the release of President Nicolas Maduro and first lady Cilia Flores, a day after U.S. forces captured and flew them to the United States, in Caracas, Venezuela, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

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Shoppers line up at a supermarket in Caracas, Venezuela, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

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A government supporter holds an action figure of Super Bigote during a protest demanding the release of President Nicolas Maduro, who was captired by U.S. forces, in Caracas, Venezuela, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

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Jesus Linares, right, removes a painting of independence hero Simon Bolivar at his home, which he says was hit during U.S. military operations to capture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, in Catia La Mar, Venezuela, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

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Pro-government armed civilians attend a protest demanding the release of President Nicolas Maduro and first lady Cilia Flores, the day after U.S. forces captured and flew them to the United States, in Caracas, Venezuela, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

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A woman buys eggs at a market in Caracas, Venezuela, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

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▶ See the rest of the AP photo gallery

A newly unsealed U.S. Justice Department indictment contends Maduro’s government was fueled by an extensive drug-trafficking operation that flooded the U.S. with thousands of tons of cocaine.

Maduro is charged alongside his wife, Cilia Flores,who was also arrested on Saturday. Also indicted are his son and three others.

U.S. authorities allege that Maduro and his family “provided law enforcement cover and logistical support” to cartels moving drugs throughout the region, resulting in as much as 250 tons of cocaine trafficked through Venezuela annually by 2020, according to the indictment.

Maduro is indicted on four counts: narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices.

Maduro faces the same charges as in an earlier indictment brought against him in Manhattan federal court in 2020, during the first Trump presidency. The new indictment unsealed Saturday, which adds charges against Flores, was filed under seal in the Southern District of New York just before Christmas.

▶Read more about the indictment

Maduro was captured 36 years to the day after Noriega was removed by American forces. And as was the case with the Panamanian leader, lawyers for Maduro are expected to contest the legality of his arrest, arguing that he is immune from prosecution as a sovereign head of a foreign state, which is a bedrock principle of international and U.S. law.

It’s an argument that is unlikely to succeed and was largely settled as a matter of law in Noriega’s trial, legal experts say.

Although Trump’s ordering of the operation in Venezuela raises constitutional concerns because it wasn’t authorized by Congress, now that Maduro is in the U.S., courts will likely bless his prosecution because, like Noriega, the U.S. doesn’t recognize him as Venezuela’s legitimate leader.

▶Read more about how Maduro’s case will revive a legal debate over immunity for foreign leaders

A U.S. Navy official says no major changes in the service’s forces in the region — either additions or withdrawals — have been made since the operation in Venezuela.

The Navy has at least 11 warships in the area, including the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military operations.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the Trump administration planned to keep targeting boats accused of trafficking drugs as well as sanctioned oil tankers.

“We seized those boats with oil, and that will continue,” Rubio said, before adding, “We will continue to reserve the right to take strikes against drug boats that are bringing drugs towards the United States.”

Rubio said no U.S. forces were on the ground in Venezuela but didn’t rule out further strikes on the country.

Rubio said Trump is “not going to go around saying, ‘I won’t do this. I won’t do that. Yes, I care about this issue, but I’ll only go so far.’”

“He retains all this optionality,” Rubio added.

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Wilman Gonzalez shows an injury he says he suffered when his home was hit during U.S. military operations to capture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, in Catia La Mar, Venezuela, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

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Wilman Gonzalez stands at his home, which he says was hit during U.S. military operations to capture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, in Catia La Mar, Venezuela, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

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In the coastal state of La Guaira, families with houses damaged in blasts during the U.S. operation that captured Maduro and his wife were cleaning up debris.

Wilman González, who was left with a black eye from a blast, picked through rubble on his floors, surrounded by broken furniture. One part of his apartment building was almost entirely blown off, leaving walls gaping.

A number of people were killed by the U.S. strikes, though Venezuelan officials did not confirm how many. Among those killed was González’s aunt.

“This is it, what we are left with: ruins,” he said.

González spoke with anger at the wreckage but also at the compounding economic and political crises that Venezuela has endured for decades.“We are civilians, we are not with the government or anyone else,” he said.

President Trump’s military intervention in Venezuela will pose a fresh test of his ability to hold together a restive Republican coalition during a challenging election year that could be defined by domestic concerns like health care and affordability.

While most Republicans lined up behind the president in the immediate aftermath of the stunning U.S. mission to capture Maduro, there were signs of unease across the spectrum within the party. In particular, Trump’s comments about the U.S. positioning itself to “run” Venezuela have raised concerns that he is abandoning the “America First” philosophy that has long distinguished him from more traditional Republicans and helped fuel his political rise.

“This is the same Washington playbook that we are so sick and tired of that doesn’t serve the American people, but actually serves the big corporations, the banks and the oil executives,” said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, a former Trump ally who is resigning on Monday, in an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday.

Those concerns were shared by some who are not associated with the party’s far-right flank.

▶ Read more about the GOP’s reaction to Trump’s intervention in Venezuela

Concern simmered in Cuba, one of Venezuela’s most important allies and trading partners, a day after the Trump administration warned it could turn its attention to the Caribbean nation.

“If I lived in Havana and I was in the government I’d be concerned, at least,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Saturday.

Cuban authorities called a rally to support Venezuela’s government and railed against the U.S. military operation, writing in a statement: “All the nations of the region must remain alert, because the threat hangs over all of us.”

On Sunday, Cubans like 55-year-old biochemical laboratory worker Bárbara Rodríguez was among many following developments in Venezuela and worried about what she described as an “aggression against a sovereign state.”

“It can happen in any country, it can happen right here. We have always been in the crosshairs (of the United States),” she said.

Rubio, a former Florida senator and son of Cuban immigrants, has long maintained Cuba is a dictatorship repressing its people.

Carriers including American, United, Delta and JetBlue say they have added extra flights on top of resuming their scheduled services in the eastern Caribbean after many flights in the region were canceled by the U.S. military action in Venezuela.

American Airlines says it is offering more than two dozen additional flights on Sunday and Monday, including round-trip flights to Antigua, Curacao and Puerto Rico. United Airlines has added at least 14 flights, while Delta Air Lines says it’s adding three additional flights Sunday.

Southwest Airlines announced Saturday that it added more round-trip Puerto Rico flights to its Sunday and Monday schedules, as well as round-trip flights to Aruba on Sunday.

Venezuela’s defense minister demanded the release of Maduro, maintaining that he is still the rightful leader of the South American country.

Venezuela’s armed forces “categorically reject the cowardly kidnapping” of Maduro, said General-in-Chief Vladimir Padrino López, flanked by the high military command during a nationwide radio and television broadcast.

Padrino López — without mentioning a death toll — said the capture occurred after “cold-bloodedly murdering a large part of his security team, soldiers, soldiers and innocent civilians.”

He maintained that Venezuela’s military was “united and cohesive in the face of the imperial aggression.”

While Maduro and his wife were captured, much of the leader’s government who helped keep him in power over years of unrest and crisis remains in place. That includes Venezuela’s new interim President Delcy Rodríguez, who previously served as vice president under Maduro.

The military, which has long acted as the arbiter of political disputes in Venezuela, has thrown its support behind Rodríguez.

The envoy to the U.S. made the statement after Katie Miller, wife of White House senior adviser Stephen Miller, posted on X a map of Greenland colored in stars and stripes and with the written note “SOON”.

“We do need Greenland, absolutely,” Trump himself told The Atlantic in an interview on Sunday.

“Just a friendly reminder about the US and the Kingdom of Denmark,” Ambassador Jesper Møller Sørensen wrote in his post on X responding to Miller. “We are close allies and should continue to work together as such. US security is also Greenland’s and Denmark’s security. Greenland is already part of NATO.”

Trump called repeatedly for U.S. jurisdiction over Greenland during his presidential transition and in the early months of his second term, causing anxiety in both Denmark and Greenland.

Greenland possesses natural resources that include oil, gas, and rare earth elements. Denmark is responsible for the autonomous territory’s foreign affairs and defense.

Last year, the Trump administration removed Temporary Protected Status for some 600,000 Venezuelan immigrants in the U.S. which had allowed them to work and stay in the country for a period.

When asked whether TPS would be reinstated for Venezuelans on Fox News Sunday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem defended the decision to revoke it.

Without TPS, those Venezuelans can be deported back to their home country, which is now reeling from the military operation and Maduro’s capture.

Noem said those who had TPS would be able to apply for refugee status.

Trump told The Atlantic on Sunday in a telephone interview that Delcy Rodríguez, Venezuela’s vice president, could “pay a very big price” if she doesn’t do what he thinks is right for the South American country.

That contrasted with the Republican president’s comments about Rodríguez on Saturday when he said Secretary of State Marco Rubio had spoken with her and that she was willing to do what the U.S. thinks is needed to improve the standard of living in Venezuela.

But Rodríguez has criticized Maduro’s removal from the country and has demanded that the U.S. return him.

Trump told the magazine that “if she doesn’t do what’s right, she is going to pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro.” The president told the New York Post in an interview Saturday that the U.S. wouldn’t need to station troops in Venezuela if she “does what we want.”

Pakistan said Sunday it was closely monitoring the situation in Venezuela and urged de-escalation to help resolve the crisis through dialogue and international law.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that Pakistan attaches great importance to the well-being of the Venezuelan people and emphasized adherence to the principles of the United Nations Charter.

The ministry said it is working to ensure the safety of the Pakistani community in Venezuela.

Bernice King, the daughter of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., has called on civil society to demand “nonviolent solutions and accountability rooted in dignity.”

“Using military force to control land and resources in a foreign land has only ever yielded catastrophic outcomes,” she said in an statement posted to her own Instagram account and an account for the King Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta.

“And, while the ousting of Venezuelan President Maduro is being lauded by some Venezuelans in exile, we cannot downplay the current and potential damage resulting from a U.S. President proclaiming about another sovereign nation, ‘We’re going to run the country’ for now,” the statement continued.
King’s statement echoes the words of her father, the late civil rights icon, who in 1967 decried militarism as one of society’s “three evils.”

“This is how militarism works. It diverts resources, concentrates power, and sustains empire while everyday people—at home and abroad—are left to suffer,” she said in the statement. “Silence only enables more violence.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested Sunday that the United States would not take a day-to-day role in governing Venezuela other than enforcing an existing “oil quarantine” on the country, a turnaround after President Donald Trump announced a day earlier that the U.S. would be running Venezuela following its ouster of leader Nicolás Maduro.

Rubio’s statements on TV talk shows seemed designed to temper concerns about whether the assertive American action to achieve regime change might again produce a prolonged foreign intervention or failed attempt at nation-building. They stood in contrast to Trump’s broad but vague claims that the U.S. would at least temporarily “run” the oil-rich nation, comments that suggested some sort of governing structure under which Caracas would be controlled by Washington.

But Rubio offered a more nuanced take, saying the U.S. would continue to enforce an oil quarantine that was already in place on sanctioned tankers before Maduro was removed from power and using that leverage as a means to press policy changes in Venezuela.

▶ Read more about Rubio’s comments

The governments of Spain, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Uruguay say the U.S.'s involvement in Venezuela is “an extremely dangerous precedent for peace and regional security and puts the civilian population at risk.”

In a statement released jointly Sunday by the governments, they expressed their “concern about any attempt at government control, administration, or external appropriation of natural or strategic resources.”

These actions are “incompatible with international law and threaten the political, economic, and social stability of the region,” they added.

Besides expressing their “deep concern and rejection” of the U.S. operation that ended with the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, they called for dialogue, negotiation and respect for the will of the Venezuelan people to resolve the situation, “without external interference and in accordance with international law.”

A few dozen protesters gathered outside the Brooklyn jail where Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is being held, with the crowd chanting “we won’t pay for war and slaughter” while holding signs opposing a U.S. war with the Latin American country.

One protester, Zoe Alexandra, said Trump “does not have the right to take unilateral military action against another country and detain its president.”

“We’re out here to say this is illegal, that we’re against what the Trump administration is trying to do, and that we don’t want another war,” Alexandra said.

Trump arrived at the club just before 9:30 a.m. Eastern time.

The president visits his eponymous club almost daily when he spends time at Mar-a-Lago, his home in Palm Beach. He’s been in Florida since the weekend before Christmas.

It was from there on Friday night that Trump gave the order to his national security team to launch the U.S. military operation to detain Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, and bring them to the U.S. to face criminal charges.

Trump did not visit the club on Saturday after he held a news conference to discuss the operation.

Associated Press video on Sunday shows a banner now on display in Iran’s capital warning the United States and Israel that their soldiers could be killed if they take action in the country.

Trump’s recent comment that the U.S. “will come to their rescue” if Iran kills peaceful protesters has taken on a new meaning after the U.S. capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, a longtime ally of Tehran.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry has condemned the “illegal U.S. attack against Venezuela.” U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has said adversaries of the U.S. should note that “America can project our will anywhere, anytime.”

From California to Missouri and Texas, protestors are planning demonstrations Sunday and through the week against President Donald Trump’s military operation and capture of Maduro, which one protest description called “the illegal, unconstitutional invasion of Venezuela.”

Dozens appear to be organized by chapters of Indivisible, a left-leaning group, and many take umbrage with Trump’s plans to take control of Venezuela’s oil industry and ask American companies to revitalize it.

U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, a Republican from Iowa who serves as Senate president pro tempore, posted on X Saturday that Maduro is a narco-terrorist and his drug trafficking resulted in the deaths of too many Americans. He likened the Trump operation to then-President George Bush’s decision in 1989 to capture Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega following his indictment for drug trafficking.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a Democrat and one of President Donald Trump’s most outspoken critics, posted that U.S. military action in Venezuela is unconstitutional and is putting troops in harm’s way with no long-term strategy. “The American people deserve a President focused on making their lives more affordable,” Pritzker wrote.

U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, a Democrat from Wisconsin, posted a statement on X calling the strikes illegal and criticizing Trump for taking action without congressional approval. “The President does not have the unilateral authority to invade foreign countries, oust their governments, and seize their resources,” she wrote.

France’s foreign minister says the departure of President Nicolás Maduro “is good news for the Venezuelans” and called for a peaceful and democratic transition of power.

Jean-Noël Barrot said “Maduro was an unscrupulous dictator who confiscated Venezuelans’ freedom and stole their elections.”

“Then, yes, we pointed out that the method used infringes the principles of international law,” Barrot said about the U.S. military operation on France 2 national television.

Chuck Schumer, the Democratic Senate leader, called Maduro “a horrible, horrible person” but added, “You don’t treat lawlessness with other lawlessness. And that’s what’s happened.”

“We have learned through the years that, when America tries to regime change and nation-building in this way, the American people pay the price in both blood and results,” Schumer told ABC’s “This Week.”

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem says President Donald Trump’s conversations with Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez now are ”very matter-of-fact and very clear: You can lead or you can get out of the way, because we’re not going to allow you to continue to subvert American influence and our need to have a free country like Venezuela to work with rather than to have dictators in place who perpetuate crimes and drug trafficking.”

Noem tells “Fox News Sunday” that the United States wants a leader in Venezuela who will be “a partner that understands that we’re going to protect America” when it comes to stopping drug trafficking and “terrorists from coming into our country.”

She says that “we’re looking for a leader that will stand up beside us and embrace those freedoms and liberties for the Venezuelan people but also ensure that they’re not perpetuating crimes around the globe like they’ve had in the past.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio appeared to back off Trump’s assertions that the U.S. was running Venezuela, insisting instead that Washington will use control of the South American country’s oil industry to force policy changes and, “We expect that it’s going to lead to results here.”

“We’re hopeful, hopeful, that it does positive results for the people for Venezuela,” Rubio told ABC’s “This Week.” “But, ultimately, most importantly, in the national interest of the United States.”

Asked about Trump suggesting that Rubio would be among the U.S. officials helping to run Venezuela, Rubio offered no details but said, “I’m obviously very intricately involved in the policy” going forward.

He said of Venezuela’s interim leader: “We don’t believe this regime in place is legitimate” because the country never held free and fair elections.

Venezuela’s capital Caracas was unusually quiet Sunday with few vehicles moving around. Convenience stores, gas stations and other businesses were mostly closed.

The presence of police and members of the military across the city was notable for its smaller size compared with an average day and even more so with the days when people protested against Maduro’s government in previous years.

Meanwhile, soldiers attempted to clear an area of an air base that had been on fire along with at least three passenger buses following Saturday’s U.S. attack.

The Brooklyn jail holding Nicolás Maduro is a facility so troubled that some judges have refused to send people there even as it has housed such famous inmates as music stars R. Kelly and Sean “Diddy” Combs.

Opened in the early 1990s, the Metropolitan Detention Center, or MDC Brooklyn, currently houses about 1,300 inmates.

It’s the routine landing spot for people awaiting trial in federal courts in Manhattan and Brooklyn, holding alleged gangsters and drug traffickers alongside some people accused of white collar crimes.

Maduro is not the first president of a country to be locked up there.

Juan Orlando Hernández, the former president of Honduras, was imprisoned at MDC Brooklyn while he was on trial for trafficking hundreds of tons of cocaine into the U.S. Hernández was pardoned and freed by President Donald Trump in December.

▶ Read more about MDC Brooklyn

Venezuelans are scrambling to understand who was in charge of their country after the U.S. military captured President Maduro.

“What will happen tomorrow?” asked Juan Pablo Petrone, a resident of Venezuela’s capital of Caracas. As fear gripped the city, streets quickly emptied save for long lines snaking from supermarkets and gas stations. “What will happen in the next hour?”

Trump offered a shocking answer: The United States would take control of Venezuela, perhaps in coordination with one of Maduro’s most trusted aides.

Key Venezuelan officials appeared to have survived the military operation and held onto their jobs, at least for now. There was no immediate sign that the U.S. was running Venezuela.

Vice President Rodríguez, who is serving as interim president, tried to project strength and unity among the ruling party’s many factions, downplaying any hint of betrayal. In remarks on state television before the court decision, she demanded the immediate release of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, and denounced the U.S. operation as a flagrant violation of the United Nations charter.

▶ Read more about the future of Venezuela’s leadership

The pope said he was greatly concerned about the U.S. raid in Venezuela and said the good of the Venezuelan people must prevail above everything else.

History’s first U.S. pope demanded an end to violence and for Venezuela’s sovereignty to be guaranteed. Speaking at his Sunday noon blessing, Leo called for “ensuring the rule of law enshrined in the constitution, respecting the human and civil rights of each and every person and working together to build a peaceful future of collaboration, stability and harmony.”

Last month, Leo had expressed concern about the growing U.S. threats of military intervention in Venezuela, calling instead for the U.S. to pursue dialogue and even exert economic pressure on Venezuela’s leaders to achieve its goals.