Rubio’s Venezuela Strategy: Oil Pressure and Cuba Ripples (Full Transcript)

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: I mean, I think everyone knows I'm pretty involved on politics in this hemisphere. Obviously, as Secretary of State and National Security Advisor, very involved in all these elements.

[00:00:07] Speaker 2: The ousting of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was a moment years in the making for Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Rubio, who is the son of Cuban immigrants, began his political career in South Florida, where many Venezuelan immigrants have fled the Maduro regime.

[00:00:26] Speaker 1: At the end of the day, it is clear that the current status quo with the Venezuelan regime is intolerable for the United States.

[00:00:32] Speaker 2: Rubio has long had his sights set on Maduro, and he is now leading the team that President Trump says is running Venezuela. Rubio has come a long way from being spotted on the couch slouching during a meeting between Trump and Ukrainian President Zelensky that went off the rails early in the Trump administration.

[00:00:50] Speaker 1: Marco Rubio is here too. Little Marco.

[00:00:54] Speaker 2: Rubio, who is also Trump's National Security Advisor and spends most of his days at the White House, has explained that the administration's Venezuela policy is focused on economic coercion to control the country.

[00:01:07] Speaker 1: First of all, what's going to happen here is that we have a quarantine on their oil. That means their economy will not be able to move forward until the conditions that are in the national interest of the United States and the interest of the Venezuelan people are met.

[00:01:18] Speaker 2: Now, taking out Maduro could also lead to regime change in Cuba. That's because the socialist government is heavily reliant on Venezuelan oil and support. And Rubio hasn't counted out U.S. military action in Cuba.

[00:01:33] Speaker 1: Yeah, look, if I lived in Havana and I was in the government, I'd be concerned.

[00:01:36] Speaker 2: Now, Trump himself says that Cuba is ready to fall on its own and that it would make many Americans, including, of course, his Secretary of State, very happy.