WASHINGTON — President Trump announced Friday that he plans to visit Venezuela following the interim government’s warm welcome for Energy Secretary Chris Wright earlier this week.
“I’m going to make a visit to Venezuela,” Trump told reporters on the White House lawn as he departed to visit Fort Bragg, NC.
Trump said he hadn’t decided when to visit, but raved about interim president Delcy Rodriguez, who assumed power after US special forces captured longtime leader Nicolas Maduro in a Jan. 3 surprise attack.
Maduro and his wife, Celia Flores, are now facing federal drug and weapons charges in New York.
“We have a very good relationship with the president of Venezuela. As you know, we’re working together very closely. We have our big oil companies going in. They’re going to be taking out the oil and selling the oil for a lot of money, and Venezuela is going to get a big part of that money,” Trump said.
“And the relationship we have right now with Venezuela — it’s, I would say, a 10.”
Asked if he would formally recognize Rodriguez as the country’s leader, Trump said, “Well, right now we have done that. We’re dealing with them, and really, right now, they’ve done a great job. She’s done — Delcy’s done — a very, very good job, and the relationship is strong.
“Right now, the relationship with Venezuela is as good as it can possibly be.”
During his Fort Bragg visit, Trump was scheduled to meet with US military members who participated in the daring raid to capture Maduro — who had presided over an economic collapse, mass emigration, and multiple disputed elections during his nearly 13 years in charge of Venezuela.
Venezuela’s defense ministry says that 47 Venezuelan and 32 Cuban soldiers were killed in the US attack, along with at least four other people.
No American troops were killed in the mission to topple the socialist strongman. Rodriguez served as Maduro’s vice president; her brother is the president of the country’s National Assembly.
Trump told The Post in an interview last month that a weapon he calls “The Discombobulator” was essential to the mission’s success.
“They never got their rockets off,” Trump said. “They had Russian and Chinese rockets, and they never got one off. We came in, they pressed buttons, and nothing worked. They were all set for us.”
Trump has claimed he’s effectively running the oil-rich South American country through Rodriguez, whom he initially threatened to remove with a “second wave” assault if she balked at his wishes.
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado gifted Trump her Nobel Peace Prize on Jan. 15 in an unsubtle attempt to sway him to force democratic elections — after Trump dismissed the conservative leader as lacking the widespread support needed to lead.
