Trump issues warning to Venezuela’s acting leader, says she will ‘pay a very big price’ if she doesn’t cooperate

Trump warns Venezuela’s interim leader she will ‘pay a very big price’ if she doesn’t cooperate

• Trump warns Venezuela's interim leader Rodríguez of severe consequences if defiant
• Maduro captured by US forces, now held in New York on drug trafficking charges
• Rodríguez condemns US, asserts Maduro as Venezuela's legitimate leader

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US President Donald Trump issued a sharp warning to Venezuela’s interim leader, Delcy Rodríguez, saying she would face severe consequences if she failed to cooperate with Washington following the capture of longtime president Nicolás Maduro.

Speaking to The Atlantic on Sunday, Trump said Rodríguez would “pay a very big price” if she did not act in line with US expectations.

“If she doesn’t do what’s right, she is going to pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro,” Trump said.

Rodríguez, who served as vice president under Maduro, was declared acting president by Venezuela’s supreme court after US forces captured Maduro in a weekend operation and transferred him to the United States. Maduro is being held in federal custody in New York on narcoterrorism and drug trafficking charges.

Trump’s warning marked a notable shift from his tone a day earlier, when he told reporters that Rodríguez had a “gracious” conversation with Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

“She had a long conversation with Marco, and she said, ‘We’ll do whatever you need,’” Trump said on Saturday. “I think she was quite gracious, but she really doesn’t have a choice. We’re going to have this done right.”

During that press conference, Trump said US officials would “run” Venezuela until a democratic transition could be secured, though he declined to offer a timeline. He also left open the possibility of US troops re-entering the country if necessary, later telling The Atlantic that rebuilding Venezuela was “not a bad thing in Venezuela’s case.”

However, Rodríguez struck a defiant tone following Trump’s remarks, insisting that Maduro remained Venezuela’s legitimate leader despite his capture. She condemned the US operation as “an atrocity that violates international law” and said Venezuela was “ready to defend our natural resources.”

Other senior officials echoed her stance. Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, in an audio recording released by the ruling PSUV socialist party, said loyalty to Maduro remained firm.

"Here, the unity of the revolutionary force is more than guaranteed, and here there is only one president, whose name is Nicolas Maduro Moros. Let no one fall for the enemy’s provocations," Cabello said.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio sought to downplay Rodríguez’s public rhetoric, saying Washington would judge Venezuela’s leadership by actions rather than statements.

“We’re not going to judge moving forward based simply on what’s said in press conferences. We want to see action here at the end of the day,” Rubio told ABC’s This Week on Sunday.

“There’s a lot of different reasons why people go on TV and say certain things in these countries, especially 15 hours or 12 hours after the person who used to be in charge of the regime is now in handcuffs and on his way to New York.”

Meanwhile, Republican Senator Tom Cotton, a close Trump ally, rejected Rodríguez’s legitimacy and called for a US-backed restructuring of Venezuela’s government.

According to US media reports, Rodríguez, who also serves as Venezuela’s oil minister, had previously impressed White House officials with her management of the country’s energy sector. But her condemnation of Maduro’s capture and warnings against foreign control have heightened uncertainty over Washington’s next steps in the oil-rich nation.