Marco Rubio outlines three-phase US plan for Venezuela, no early elections

Under Washington’s gaze, Venezuela is being steered toward an uncertain horizon through a carefully sequenced American blueprint — one that privileges patience over haste and leverage over ballots.

Unveiling what he described as a three-act roadmap — stabilisation, recovery and transition — US secretary of state Marco Rubio made clear that the Trump administration sees its role in Venezuela not as a brief intervention, but as a long, shaping presence. Elections, he signalled, lie somewhere far down the road, not around the next bend.

The opening act, Rubio said, is about holding the centre. With Nicolás Maduro removed, the immediate priority is to prevent the country from slipping into chaos. At the heart of this effort is Washington’s grip on Venezuela’s oil lifeline, enforced through sanctions and a naval quarantine. This control, Rubio argued, gives the United States its strongest leverage yet over the country’s interim authorities.

Only once the ground is steadied does the second phase unfold — recovery. This stage envisions Venezuela’s battered economy reopening to American, Western and other approved companies, with cranes returning to skylines and power restored to a long-faltering electricity grid. Beyond concrete and cables, recovery also carries a human dimension: reconciliation, the release or amnesty of opposition figures, and the return of millions who fled economic collapse.

Politics, however, comes last. Rubio said a genuine transition can only emerge after stabilisation and recovery have taken root. He declined to set timelines, cautioning against illusions of rapid transformation. Years of institutional decay, he noted, cannot be undone in days.

The phases, he stressed, will blur and overlap, evolving as conditions change. Dismissing criticism that the administration is improvising, Rubio insisted that detailed plans have already been shared with Congress. Democrats remain sceptical, accusing the White House of floating multiple frameworks without firm guarantees of Venezuela’s political future. The administration counters that forcing early elections could fracture a fragile state.

For India, the strategy carries implications beyond Latin America. Prolonged US engagement in Venezuela’s energy sector could reshape global oil flows for years, rippling through markets on which India is deeply dependent.

More broadly, the plan reflects a familiar American playbook: wielding economic power — especially control over energy — as the primary instrument of influence, while postponing political restructuring. It also underscores Washington’s determination to blunt China’s expanding footprint in the region, even as Venezuela’s future is written slowly, phase by phase.

With IANS inputs