Marco Rubio before the Senate: 'We are certainly better off today in Venezuela than we were four weeks ago'
"We think very quickly we'll be able to open a U.S. diplomatic presence on the ground," the secretary of state announced to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Rubio in Ontario / Mandel Ngan
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday he expected an American diplomatic presence to return to Venezuela soon after the attack that toppled Nicolás Maduro.
"We think very quickly we'll be able to open a U.S. diplomatic presence on the ground," Rubio told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
The secretary of state explained that the reestablished U.S. mission "will allow us to have real-time information" and improve interaction with Venezuelan authorities, as well as with "members of civil society, the opposition."
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Likewise, he affirmed that there is "good and decent progress in Venezuela" and highlighted that "we are certainly better off today in Venezuela than we were four weeks ago." Furthermore, he insisted that the administration will not spend taxpayers' money in Venezuela, and those profits will be used "for the benefit of the Venezuelan people."
Meanwhile, Rubio ruled out further military operations in Venezuela. However, he added, "Make no mistake, as the president has stated, we are prepared to use force to ensure maximum cooperation if other methods fail."
"We will closely monitor the performance of the interim authorities as they cooperate with our stage-based plan to restore stability to Venezuela," the secretary of state added.
Regarding possible elections in the country, he explained that the United States wants to achieve a transition to democracy and prosperity in that nation, but it will not be achieved in a few weeks. In the secretary's opinion, it will take time.
He also referred to María Corina Machado, winner of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize and leader of the Venezuelan opposition. He recalled that he has known her for at least 12 years and maintained that both he and President Donald Trump have respect for her.
China, Iran and Greenland also in the debate
"There'll be some technical level meetings between us and our partners in Greenland and Denmark on this issue, and I think we have in place a process that's going to bring us to a good outcome for everybody," Rubio told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
On the Islamic republic of Iran, he assured that, in his view, it is at its weakest point and they expect protests to resume eventually as the United States increases pressure.
"That regime is probably weaker than it has ever been and the core problem they face—unlike the protests you saw in the past on some other topics—is that they don't have a way to address the core complaints of the protesters, which is that their economy is in collapse."
Finally, the head of U.S. diplomacy said the Trump administration is closely following the reshuffling of the military hierarchy in China following the dismissal of that country's most powerful general. He also alluded to corruption as the cause of the removal.
"They're spending a lot of money on their military and obviously some of these guys are stealing that money and they're trying to address that," Rubio told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
"It's an issue internally in their system. They're obviously not sharing with us or talking to us in depth about any of that, but it's certainly something we watch with interest,” Rubio said.
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