Washington, June 2 (IANS) US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected to highlight the removal of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro as one of the Trump administration’s most significant foreign policy achievements when he appears before lawmakers on Tuesday, according to prepared testimony obtained by IANS.
The remarks, prepared for delivery before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs, offer one of the administration’s most detailed accounts to date of its actions in Venezuela and its broader strategy in Latin America.
Rubio plans to argue that President Donald Trump’s return to office marked a turning point in US policy toward the Western Hemisphere, where the administration has focused heavily on combating organised crime, illegal migration and governments it views as hostile to American interests.
“President Trump has taken back control of our hemisphere,” Rubio says in the prepared testimony. “For too long, allowed hostile regimes, cartels, criminal gangs and foreign adversaries to run rampant in our own backyard.”
Rubio says the administration moved quickly against criminal organisations including MS-13 and Tren de Aragua, describing them as terrorist organisations and claiming the United States had assembled a multinational coalition to confront them.
“That ended on day one of this administration,” Rubio says. “We confronted MS-13, Tren de Aragua, and the other evil cartels as the terrorist organisations that they are and built a transcontinental coalition to defeat and dismantle them.”
He also points to what he describes as direct action against narcotics trafficking networks.
“Narco-cartel boats ferrying their poison into our borders were not met with strongly worded letters, but with the full weight of American firepower,” Rubio says.
The most striking section of the testimony focuses on Venezuela.
Rubio plans to tell lawmakers that the United States brought “an anti-American despot in Caracas to justice” and describes the operation against Maduro as “one of the most extraordinary feats of lethal precision in military history”.
“American Special Forces crossed a hemisphere, penetrated one of the most heavily fortified capitals in the region, neutralised the regime’s military infrastructure, and removed Nicolas Maduro from power within hours,” Rubio says in the prepared remarks.
The testimony portrays Maduro’s government as a regional security threat rather than simply an authoritarian regime.
“The Maduro regime was not simply another corrupt dictatorship,” Rubio says. “It was a hub of regional disorder: exporting criminals, empowering cartels, collaborating with hostile powers, and turning mass migration into a weapon aimed northward at the United States.”
Rubio further argues that the former Venezuelan leader had “emptied his prisons into our cities” and transformed Venezuela into “a beachhead for our adversaries”.
Beyond Venezuela, Rubio says the administration has used economic and diplomatic tools to secure greater cooperation from governments across Latin America.
“We have made it clear to every government in this hemisphere that America can either be their greatest friend or their most feared enemy — the choice is theirs,” he says.
According to the prepared testimony, Washington has relied on “trade relationships”, “financial leverage”, and “diplomatic standing” to bring countries in Central and South America into alignment with US priorities on migration, organised crime and security.
The hearing comes as the administration seeks congressional support for its foreign policy budget and continues to defend its approach to Latin America. The region has remained a major focus of the Trump administration’s efforts to curb migration, disrupt transnational criminal organisations and counter the influence of governments viewed as hostile to Washington.
–IANS
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