The below transcript captures the remarks to the press centered on the Jan. 3 takeover of Venezuela. January 7, 2026 QUESTION: Why were you saying this behind closed doors? SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, there’s a lot of operational details that can’t be discussed publicly, obviously, for obvious reasons. So, as we move forward we’ll describe our process, which is a threefold process in Venezuela. I’ve described it to them now. Step one is the stabilization of the country. We don’t want it descending into chaos. Part of that stabilization, and the reason why we understand and believe that we have the strongest leverage possible, is our quarantine. As you’ve seen today, two more ships were seized. We are in the midst right now, and in fact about to execute, on a deal to take all the oil – they have oil that is stuck in Venezuela; they can’t move it because of our quarantine and because it’s sanctioned. We are going to take between 30 and 50 million barrels of oil. We’re ...
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