Donald Trump has said that "only time will tell" how long the United States will maintain oversight of Venezuela in an interview with the New York Times.
When asked by the Times if it would be three months, six months, a year or longer, the US president said: "I would say much longer."
"We will rebuild it in a very profitable way," Mr Trump said of Venezuela, adding: "We're going to be using oil, and we're going to be taking oil. We're getting oil prices down, and we're going to be giving money to Venezuela, which they desperately need."
Mr Trump added the US was "getting along very well" with interim president Delcy Rodríguez's government in Venezuela right now, according to the Times.
On Tuesday, Mr Trump unveiled a plan to refine and sell up to 50 million barrels of Venezuelan oil that had been stuck in Venezuela under US blockade, in a further sign that Washington was coordinating with the Venezuelan government since seizing President Nicolás Maduro in a raid last weekend.
"They're giving us everything that we feel is necessary," Mr Trump said, referring to the Venezuelan government.
He declined to comment when asked if he had personally spoken to Ms Rodríguez.
"But Marco speaks to her all the time," he said, referring to Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
"I will tell you that we are in constant communication with her and the administration."
'Give us back Nico!'
The Times said Mr Trump did not answer any questions about his administration's recognition of Ms Rodríguez as Venezuela's new leader despite worldwide consensus that the country's opposition had won the 2024 presidential election.
Ms Rodríguez has been treading a fine line between denouncing Mr Maduro's "kidnapping" and kick-starting cooperation with the US under explicit threats of further military violence from Mr Trump.
She has also said there is no foreign power governing Caracas.
"There is a stain on our relations such as had never occurred in our history," Ms Rodríguez said about the US attack to depose her predecessor.
Government loyalists have held daily demonstrations since January 3, when US forces nabbed Mr Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, during a bombing raid on Caracas and took them to face trial on drug charges in New York.
"Nico, hold on, the people are rising!" protesters chanted, in the sun and rain during their 3-kilometre trek through downtown Caracas.
"Trump, give us back Nico!"
Opposition figure María Corina Machado, who was banned from running in that election, was recently awarded the Nobel Peace Prize but has seemingly been frozen out by the Trump administration.
The US president also made no commitments to when a new election would be held in Venezuela.
Presidential term lengths last six years in Venezuela, meaning the next election is not due until 2030.
Trump walks back threat against Colombia
After the operation to seize Mr Maduro on Saturday, Mr Trump listed a number of other countries that could face a similar US military intervention, including Venezuela's neighbour Colombia.
On Sunday, Mr Trump had threatened to carry out military action against Colombia, calling the country's president Gustavo Petro "a sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States, and he's not going to be doing it very long".
But he now appears to have changed his tune.
The Times said its reporters were permitted to sit in during a phone call between Mr Trump and Mr Petro, provided the contents of the call were off the record.
In a post on social media, MrTrump said: "It was a great honour to speak with the President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, who called to explain the situation of drugs and other disagreements that we have had. I appreciated his call and tone, and look forward to meeting him in the near future."
Mr Petro described the call, his first with the US president, as cordial.
The Times said Mr Trump's phone call with Mr Petro lasted about an hour and "appeared to dissipate any immediate threat of US military action".
Oil representatives to meet president
Mr Trump has said the United States intends to "run" Venezuela, but US officials have indicated their plan for now is to exert influence without a military occupation.
Venezuela, with the world's biggest proven oil reserves, has become impoverished in recent decades, with eight million people fleeing abroad in one of the world's biggest migration crises.
Washington and the Venezuelan opposition have long blamed corruption, mismanagement and brutality by the ruling Socialist Party. Mr Maduro blamed the economic damage on US sanctions.
Several senior US officials said that the United States needs to control Venezuela's oil sales and revenues indefinitely in order to restore the country's oil industry and rebuild its economy.
Mr Trump is scheduled to meet with the heads of major oil companies at the White House on Friday to discuss ways of raising Venezuela's oil production.
Representatives from the top three US oil companies — Exxon Mobil, ConocoPhillips and Chevron — would be present, according to a source familiar with the planning.
The companies, all of which have experience in Venezuela, have declined to comment.
US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in an interview with CNBC on Wednesday, local time, that he spoke with the chief executives of all three companies immediately after Mr Maduro was seized, and expected them to engage in rehabilitating Venezuela's oil sector.
"Are they going to put billions of dollars into building new infrastructure in Venezuela next week? Of course not," he said.
"But they want to be productive advisers and helpers in that process."
In another interview with Fox Business Network, Mr Wright said there was room for both the United States and China to be involved in Venezuela's oil industry, but only if "America is the dominant force there".
"In that framework, where Venezuela's main partner … is the United States, can there be commerce with China? Sure. Are we going to allow Venezuela to become a client state of China? Absolutely not," he said.
ABC/Reuters
