U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday that a second strike on Venezuela is possible if its leaders “do not behave” in the wake of the U.S. extraction of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in a daring early-morning raid earlier this week.
“We’re prepared to do a second strike, if we need it. We’re totally prepared,” Trump told reporters on board Air Force One. “If they don’t behave, we will do a second strike.”
The early morning operation in and around Caracas, carried out around 2 a.m. local time on Jan. 3, resulted in the capture of both Maduro and his wife, and included a series of airstrikes on strategic targets including infrastructure, ports, cell towers, and others.
The in-and-out operation took less than 30 minutes, with U.S. forces suffering no casualties.
Maduro, who was captured alongside his wife Cilia Flores, has been charged with narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices against the United States.
He’s currently being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, and is expected to face arraignment on Jan. 5 in New York City.
Following the operation, the United States said it had taken over management of the South American nation for the time being. In his comments to reporters, Trump reiterated “we are in charge” in Venezuela.
He indicated that rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure and economy—particularly around its rich oil reserves—would be a top priority.
“Venezuela right now is a dead country. We have to bring it back. We’re gonna have to have big investments by the oil companies to bring back the infrastructure,” Trump said. “They’re ready to go. They’re gonna go in. They’re gonna rebuild the infrastructure.”
Elections won’t be held right away, Trump said, telling reporters that these would be held “at the right time.”
“We’re going to run everything. We’re going to run it, fix it,” he said. “We’ll have elections at the right time. The main thing you have to fix. It’s a broken country. There’s no money.”
In the interim, the South American nation’s acting leader is former Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez, who has condemned the capture of Maduro and his wife and called for their immediate release.
Trump demurred from a question about boots on the ground in Venezuela, saying that that “depends on what happens.”
Since her initial condemnation of the military operation, Rodríguez has signaled openness to cooperating with the administration.
“We invite the U.S. government to collaborate with us on an agenda of cooperation oriented towards shared development within the framework of international law to strengthen lasting community coexistence,” she wrote on social media on Jan. 4.
It comes after Trump warned Rodríguez that she could “pay a very big price” if she doesn’t work with the administration.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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