Donald Trump said he had canceled plans for a second wave of strikes on Venezuela, citing cooperation with the country’s interim government and the prospects for reviving its oil industry. According to him, relations between Washington and the new leadership in Caracas have improved following the change of power after an operation last weekend that resulted in the detention of Nicolas Maduro. At the same time, Trump softened his rhetoric toward Venezuela’s opposition.
The U.S. president noted that the sides are working together effectively, particularly on restoring oil and gas infrastructure, which he said should become larger in scale and more modern. He published the statement on January 9 on the Truth Social platform. Trump also welcomed the release of political prisoners by Venezuelan authorities led by interim president Delcy Rodriguez.
It was precisely this cooperation, he stressed, that prompted the decision to abandon the previously anticipated second wave of attacks, which he said was no longer necessary, although all ships would remain in position for security reasons. Trump added that at least $100 billion would be invested by major oil companies, whose executives he plans to meet at the White House.
On January 4, Trump warned Venezuela’s leadership that a second strike would follow in the event of improper conduct. Meanwhile, Venezuelan authorities said on Thursday that they had decided to immediately release a significant number of Venezuelan and foreign nationals, including five Spanish citizens.
Trump also said he intends to meet in Washington next week with Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, marking a notable shift in tone toward the Nobel laureate, whom he had previously ignored in public. The president described Machado, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo last month, as “a very pleasant person” and said he was looking forward to the meeting, remarks he made in an interview with Fox News on January 8.
On January 3, Trump effectively cast doubt on Maria Corina Machado’s prospects of coming to power in Venezuela, saying she lacked “respect” within the country and that becoming its leader would be “very difficult” for her. The remarks came amid a broader reassessment of Washington’s approach to the political crisis in Caracas.
Rather than backing Venezuela’s opposition or pressing for elections, the Trump administration chose to build relations with Delcy Rodriguez—the former vice president under Nicolas Maduro and his successor within the regime, appointed as interim leader. As White House statements suggest, this course is intended to secure broader U.S. access to Venezuelan oil exports.
The U.S. military operation in Venezuela sent a powerful shock through the region, underscoring Trump’s hard-edged and demonstrative approach in the Western Hemisphere. It was followed by threatening signals from Washington regarding possible military intentions toward Greenland and Colombia.
On January 8, Trump also raised the possibility of strikes against drug cartels in Mexico, saying the United States was prepared to launch attacks on ground targets. “We’re starting to hit them on the ground when it comes to the cartels. The cartels run Mexico,” he said in an interview with Fox News.
In recent days, Maria Corina Machado has sought to win Trump’s favor, including by offering to share the Nobel Peace Prize with him, an award the U.S. president has openly supported. “Since this is a prize of the Venezuelan people, we of course want to award it to him and share it with him,” Machado told Fox News earlier this week.
Machado was barred from running in the 2024 election. According to a parallel vote count based on independently verified tally sheets, her deputy, Edmundo Gonzalez, won by a two-to-one margin rather than Maduro, who declared himself the victor. The United States recognized Gonzalez’s victory.
After the vote, the Maduro regime launched a campaign to suppress dissent. Maria Corina Machado was forced into hiding inside Venezuela, while Edmundo Gonzalez left the country and went to Spain. Last month, with U.S. support, Machado was able to leave Venezuela to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo and has not returned to the country since.
Authorities in Caracas exploited her absence and the apparent cooling of Trump’s attitude to publicly mock the opposition leader, the daughter of a wealthy Venezuelan steel magnate. “You were not invited to this ball,” Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said on state television on Wednesday—one of the regime’s most hard-line figures, who controls its paramilitary structures. “It’s one thing to be Venezuelan, and quite another to be born in Venezuela.”