President Donald Trump said Friday that he deliberately avoided dismantling Venezuela’s post-Maduro governing structure in order to prevent chaos similar to what followed the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
Speaking to reporters as he departed the White House on Jan. 16, Trump explained that his administration chose to work with Venezuela’s interim leader Delcy Rodríguez rather than immediately install opposition figure María Corina Machado, citing the dangers of creating a sudden power vacuum.
Trump pointed to Iraq as a cautionary tale.
“If you ever remember a place called Iraq, where everybody was fired—the police, the generals, everybody—they ended up being ISIS,” Trump said. “Instead of just getting down to business, they ended up being ISIS.”
The president’s remarks came one day after he met with Machado at the White House, where she presented him with the Nobel Peace Prize she received in December for her role in Venezuela’s pro-democracy movement.
Trump praised Machado personally but expressed reservations about whether she could successfully navigate the country’s fragile political landscape.
“I had a great meeting yesterday with a person who I have a lot of respect for,” Trump said. “I never met her before, and I was very, very impressed. This is a fine woman.”
Despite the praise, Trump indicated that stability—not symbolism—was guiding U.S. policy.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the president’s approach reflects assessments from his national security team.
“It was a realistic assessment based on what the president was reading and hearing from his advisers,” Leavitt said. “At this moment in time, his opinion on that matter has not changed.”
Trump spoke directly with Rodríguez on Jan. 14, discussing trade, national security, and Venezuela’s economic recovery.
“We are making tremendous progress, as we help Venezuela stabilize and recover,” Trump wrote on Truth Social after the call. “This partnership between the United States of America and Venezuela will be spectacular one FOR ALL.”
Rodríguez, who assumed power following the Jan. 3 raid and capture of longtime socialist leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, described the conversation as “courteous” and productive.
Maduro is currently being held in a federal prison in New York on narco-terrorism and drug trafficking charges.
Trump previously warned Rodríguez that she could face consequences worse than Maduro’s if she failed to cooperate with U.S.-backed reforms.
Since Maduro’s removal, Venezuela has released an unspecified number of detained Americans. The Trump administration has also finalized an agreement to refine up to 50 million barrels of Venezuelan oil in the United States, with energy companies pledging up to $100 billion in investment to revive the nation’s collapsed oil sector.
Trump said oil revenues will be used to rebuild infrastructure and fund humanitarian relief after decades of economic devastation under socialist rule.
Millions of Venezuelans fled the country during the Chávez and Maduro years amid food shortages, hyperinflation, and widespread poverty.
Trump said the United States will temporarily oversee Venezuela’s political and economic transition until conditions allow for free and fair elections.
“We’re going to do this the right way,” Trump said, “not the Iraq way.”
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