New Delhi, Jan 5: US President Donald Trump has warned Venezuela’s incoming leader Delcy Rodríguez that she could “pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro” if she “doesn’t do what’s right”.
BBC reports that speaking to The Atlantic, Trump said that for Venezuela, “regime change, anything you want to call it, is better than what you have right now”.
Rodríguez, who is due to be sworn in later on Monday, struck a contrasting tone at her first cabinet meeting, issuing a direct appeal to Washington.
“Our peoples and our region deserve peace and dialogue, not war,” she said.
Meanwhile, deposed president Nicolás Maduro is expected to appear in a New York court after being seized during US air strikes on Venezuela on Saturday.
He faces drug trafficking-related charges, which he has denied.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States is at war “against drug trafficking organisations”, not Venezuela itself.