Making Venezuela Great Again: Key Statements from Trump's Briefing

The operation in Caracas has no analogues since World War II – all of Venezuela's military capabilities have been disabled. Donald Trump spoke about this during the briefing regarding the US strikes on Venezuela.

"If you had seen what I saw last night, you would have been amazed. It was incredible. Not a single U.S. soldier was killed, not a single piece of equipment was lost," Trump said.

Venezuela has acquired "threatening offensive weapons" that it used yesterday. Trump did not specify what kind of weapons he was talking about. However, he emphasized that Venezuela had used its full military potential.

Trump accused Maduro and his wife of "narco-terrorism" against US citizens and said that Maduro personally oversaw the Sunshine Cartel, which imported drugs into the United States. "Maduro will face the full force of American justice on American soil," the US president said.

The United States plans to lead Venezuela until it can ensure a "safe, proper, and prudent transition of power."

"We don't want someone else to come in and we'll be in the same situation we've been in for years. So we will govern the country until there is a safe, proper and careful transition. We want peace, freedom and justice for the people of Venezuela. That includes many who live in the United States and want to return to their country. We cannot allow someone to take control of Venezuela who does not have the interests of Venezuelans at heart," Trump said.

He also said that Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez had a phone conversation with Marco Rubio and said that Caracas is ready to cooperate with Washington to make Venezuela "great again."

The US President said that Venezuela's oil business was a complete failure. According to him, the country had previously "stolen" the American oil production infrastructure. Now, however, large US oil companies will enter the country, spending billions of dollars to repair the damaged oil infrastructure and "start making money for the country." In his opinion, this will help make the Venezuelan population "rich, independent and secure."

The United States will continue the naval blockade of Venezuela, which began in mid-December, when Trump ordered the blocking of all sanctioned oil tankers traveling to and from Venezuela.

The United States is ready for a second, even more powerful attack on Venezuela. However, there is no need for this at the moment, "because the first wave of the attack was very successful."

Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel laureate Maria Machado, according to Trump, has no support in the country, and the United States has not been in contact with her.

"This operation should be a warning to anyone who threatens American interests and American lives," Trump said.

The US president also again advised Colombian President Gustavo Petro to "watch his ass" because, according to Trump, his country has numerous cocaine laboratories. The situation in Cuba, in his opinion, is similar to the situation in Venezuela, so the US leadership will "start discussions" on it as well.

• On the night of January 3, explosions were heard in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas. It was reported about partial power outages and overflights by aircraft.
• CBS News Channel reportedreported that the United States had launched air strikes on the Latin American country.
• President of the United States Donald Trump said that the Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro grabbed and taken out of Venezuela.