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President Donald Trump has revealed that he is seriously considering taking over a country with a population of 30 million people, after claiming he might decide to make this nation the 51st US state.
Trump previously threatened to take over Canada and seize Greenland, but now he appears to have set his sights on a different nation.
Back in January, the Trump administration launched a military mission, reportedly known as Operation Absolute Resolve, with the aim of capturing Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro.
The raid was a success for the US, with Maduro being captured and transported to a prison in New York.
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Afterwards, Trump stated that the US would temporarily ‘run’ Venezuela until there was a ‘safe, proper and judicious transition’.
However, new reports suggest that the president might have the nation pegged as a potential new state for the US.
According to Today Fox News co-anchor John Roberts, Trump is now ‘seriously considering a move to make Venezuela the 51st state of the United States’.
The signs have always been there. Back in March, after Venezuela beat Italy at the World Baseball Classic, Trump took to his own social media platform Truth Social to write: “STATEHOOD, #51, Anyone?”
Trump told reporters at the White House recently that US operations in Venezuela amounted to ‘military genius’.
He continued: “Venezuela is a very happy country right now. They were miserable. Now they’re happy… The oil that’s coming out is enormous, the biggest in many years. And the big oil companies are going in with the biggest, most beautiful rigs you’ve ever seen.”
So can he legally do it? Not without congressional approval and Venezuela’s own consent.
But that hasn’t stopped Trump suggesting he intends to take the country anyway. The US has already built up one of the largest naval fleets in the Caribbean in decades and Trump has not ruled out American boots on the ground to protect Venezuela’s vast oil infrastructure.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Congress in January that the US is not militarily ‘postured’ for action in Venezuela.
He said: “The only military presence you will see in Venezuela is our Marine guards at an embassy.”
However, Trump has since repeatedly suggested otherwise.
Interim President Delcy Rodríguez has given no timeline for democratic elections, saying only they will happen ‘some time’, which has drawn public fears that the White House has abandoned its goal of pushing the country toward democracy.
