President Donald Trump insisted Sunday the United States is “in charge” of Venezuela after the seizure of Nicolas Maduro, but was also dealing with the new leadership in Caracas.Venezuela’s interim leader Delcy Rodriguez said at the same time that she was ready to work together with the Trump administration, asking the US leader for a balanced, respectful relationship.Trump has faced searching questions over his repeated assertions that Washington is now running Venezuela following the US military operation that spirited away Maduro and his wife before dawn Saturday.The deposed Maduro is due to appear in a New York court Monday to face federal narcotrafficking charges.”We’re dealing with the people who just got sworn in. Don’t ask me who’s in charge because I’ll give you an answer and it’ll be very controversial,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One when asked if he had spoken to Rodriguez.Pressed on what he meant, Trump said: “It means we’re in charge.”The Trump administration says it is willing to work with the remainder of Maduro’s government as long as Washington’s goals, particularly opening access to US investment in Venezuela’s enormous crude oil reserves, are met.Asked whether the operation was about oil or regime change, Trump replied: “It’s about peace on earth.”- ‘It’s a broken country’ -The US president said elections in Venezuela would have to wait. “We’re going to run it, fix it, we’ll have elections at the right time, but the main thing you have to fix is it’s a broken country,” he said.As he struck his triumphant tone, Trump also had harsh words for other US adversaries, saying Colombia’s leader was “not going to be doing it very long,” Communist-ruled Cuba was “ready to fall” and that Iran’s leadership will be “hit hard” if protesters are killed.Trump had earlier threatened that Rodriguez would pay a “big price” if she does not cooperate with the United States.Venezuelan opposition figure Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, in an Instagram post Sunday from exile in Spain, said Maduro’s capture was “an important step, but not enough” to return the crisis-hit nation to normal.Gonzalez Urrutia called for the results of the 2024 election — which he claims to have won — to be upheld and for all political prisoners to be freed to ensure a “democratic transition.”Venezuelans braced for the political aftermath of the stunning raid, in which US commandos swooped in on helicopters, backed by fighter jets and naval forces, to capture Maduro. Residents queued up to buy food in grocery stores, and the masked and heavily armed police visible the previous day were gone, AFP correspondents said.Some 2,000 Maduro supporters — including rifle-wielding men on motorcycles — rallied Sunday in Caracas, however, with crowds shouting and waving red, blue and yellow Venezuelan flags.The Venezuelan military announced it recognized Rodriguez — previously Maduro’s vice president — as acting president, and urged calm.Venezuelan hospitals have refused to divulge the number of people killed or injured in the attacks. A doctors’ group told AFP around 70 people were killed and 90 injured. A military source, speaking on condition of anonymity, put the death toll at at least 15.But Havana said 32 Cubans died in the US raid. Trump said “a lot” of Maduro’s Cuban security detail were killed.- Who will run Venezuela? -Despite the success of the initial US operation, questions mounted over Trump’s Venezuela strategy.Trump said Saturday the United States will “run” the South American country of about 30 million people.But Secretary of State Marco Rubio stressed Sunday that Washington is not seeking complete regime change or elections.The United States is fighting drug traffickers, “not a war against Venezuela,” Rubio told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”However, he said a large US naval presence would remain in the Caribbean to enforce a blockade of Venezuelan oil exports for “tremendous leverage.”With questions swirling on Capitol Hill, an administration official told AFP that Rubio will discuss Venezuela in meetings with lawmakers Monday.Trump has made clear Washington intends to call the shots in Venezuela, with a focus on securing access to the world’s largest proven oil reserves.Maduro, a self-described socialist, led Venezuela with an iron fist for more than a decade through a series of elections widely considered rigged. He came to power after the death of his charismatic mentor, Hugo Chavez.As news of Maduro’s capture rippled out, exiled Venezuelans waved flags and celebrated in plazas from Madrid to Santiago. About eight million Venezuelans have fled the grinding poverty and political suppression of their homeland.burs-dk/mlm

President Donald Trump doubled down Sunday on his claim that Greenland should become part of the United States, despite calls by Denmark’s prime minister to stop “threatening” the territory.Washington’s military intervention in Venezuela has reignited fears for Greenland, which Trump has repeatedly said he wants to annex, given its strategic location in the Arctic.While aboard Air Force One en route to Washington, Trump reiterated the goal.”We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it,” he said. Over the weekend, Katie Miller, the wife of Trump’s most influential aide, posted an image of the flag of Greenland in the colours of the US flag, captioning it “SOON”.Denmark and the European Union have responded with ire to Trump’s Greenland agenda.”I have to say this very clearly to the United States: it is absolutely absurd to say that the United States should take control of Greenland,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in a statement on Sunday.She called on Washington to stop “threatening its historical ally”.European leaders were rattled by Trump sending his military to attack Caracas and grab Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro, who is now being detained in New York.Trump has said the United States will now “run” Venezuela indefinitely and tap its huge oil reserves.He says Greenland, which is rich in critical minerals vital for the tech industry, is needed for US national security. Asked in a telephone interview with The Atlantic about the implications of the Venezuela military operation for Greenland, Trump said that it was up to others to decide, according to the magazine Sunday.”They are going to have to view it themselves. I really don’t know,” Trump was quoted as saying. He added: “But we do need Greenland, absolutely. We need it for defense.”Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen called Miller’s flag post “disrespectful”.”Relations between nations and peoples are built on mutual respect and international law — not on symbolic gestures that disregard our status and our rights,” he wrote on X.But he also said that “there is neither reason for panic nor for concern. Our country is not for sale, and our future is not decided by social media posts”.- Allies? -Stephen Miller is widely seen as the architect of much of Trump’s policies, guiding the president on his hardline immigration policies and domestic agenda.Denmark’s ambassador to the United States, Jesper Moeller Soerensen, offered a pointed “friendly reminder” in response to Katie Miller’s post that his country — a NATO member — has “significantly boosted its Arctic security efforts” and worked together with Washington on that.”We are close allies and should continue to work together as such,” Soerensen wrote.Katie Miller was deputy press secretary under Trump at the Department of Homeland Security during his first term.She later worked as communications director for then-vice president Mike Pence and also acted as his press secretary.

Denmark called on the United States to stop “threatening” Greenland Sunday as President Donald Trump told US media he “absolutely” needed the territory, a day after Washington seized the leader of Venezuela.Washington’s military intervention in Venezuela has reignited fears for Greenland, which Trump has repeatedly made clear he wants to become an annexed part of the United States.Those fears were underscored by Trump’s comments to The Atlantic magazine and a social media post by the wife of his most influential aide showing Greenland in the colours of the US flag.”I have to say this very clearly to the United States: it is absolutely absurd to say that the United States should take control of Greenland,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in a statement late Sunday.She called on Washington to stop “threatening its historical ally”.The United States’s European allies were rattled by Trump sending in his military on Saturday to attack Caracas and grab Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro, who is now being held in New York.Trump has said the United States will now “run” Venezuela indefinitely and tap its huge oil reserves.In Greenland’s case, Trump has claimed that making the Danish territory part of the United States would serve US national security interests, given its strategic location on the Arctic. Greenland is also rich in key critical minerals used in high-tech sectors.Asked in a telephone interview with The Atlantic about the implications of the Venezuela military operation for Greenland, Trump said that it was up to others to decide, according to the magazine Sunday.”They are going to have to view it themselves. I really don’t know,” Trump was quoted as saying. He added: “But we do need Greenland, absolutely. We need it for defense.”Late Saturday, Katie Miller — wife of Trump’s deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller — posted the contentious image of the Danish autonomous territory in the colours of the US flag on her X feed.Her post had a single word above it: “SOON”. Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen called the post “disrespectful”.”Relations between nations and peoples are built on mutual respect and international law — not on symbolic gestures that disregard our status and our rights,” he stated on X.But he also said that “there is neither reason for panic nor for concern. Our country is not for sale, and our future is not decided by social media posts”.- Allies? -Denmark’s ambassador to the US, Jesper Moeller Soerensen, reacted earlier on Sunday with his own post saying “we expect full respect for the territorial integrity” of Denmark, above a link to Katie Miller’s image.Moves edging towards that goal by his government — including his appointment of an envoy to the Danish territory — have drawn the ire of both Copenhagen and the European Union.Stephen Miller is widely seen as the architect of much of Trump’s policies, guiding the president on his hardline immigration policies and domestic agenda.Denmark’s ambassador gave a pointed “friendly reminder” in response to Katie Miller’s post that his country — a NATO member — has “significantly boosted its Arctic security efforts” and worked together with the US on that.”We are close allies and should continue to work together as such,” Soerensen wrote.Katie Miller was deputy press secretary under Trump at the Department of Homeland Security during his first term.She later worked as communications director for then vice president Mike Pence and also acted as his press secretary.