CNN’s Wolf Blitzer: “Let’s talk about Venezuela right now. You know that the President of Venezuela, he had some sharp words for you. He called you, and I’m translating from the Spanish, ‘the craziest of the crazies,’ because of your views on what’s going on in Venezuela right now. What should the U.S. be doing in Venezuela?”
Senator Marco Rubio: “First of all, let me just say about this individual, Mr. Maduro, he’s someone who actually said Hugo Chávez, after his death, appeared to him in the form of a bird. So I’m not sure who the crazy is here. All I’ve done is point to the human rights abuses that are occurring on the streets of Venezuela. Every single day, there are now documented instances, numerous, of government troops and some of these civilian militias that they have armed and they have trained who have shot and killed student protesters. This all began as a student protest two weeks ago because the government wasn’t doing enough to go after the rapists and sexual assault cases on campus. And, of course, the government cracked down, but didn’t crack down on the rapists, it cracked down on the students. And this of course has spiraled into this broader discontent.”
Blitzer: “What should the U.S. do, if anything? We have limited influence, I assume.”
Rubio: “Well, first of all, we should be involved and care, right now. You know I heard yesterday the State Department said they are concerned. They shouldn’t be concerned about what is happening in Venezuela, they should be outraged about by it. And it should be getting the same level of attention as what’s happening in Egypt, or what’s happening in Ukraine, or other parts of the world because this is actually closer to us. The second is and I think we now have documented incidents of human rights abuses, we should put together a package of sanctions against these individuals who are committing these atrocities and these crimes, and beyond that, I would say that we should study whether, in fact, we are at a stage where we should explore some specific sanctions against this Venezuelan government. Maybe a moratorium on private investment, or what have you. But there has to be consequences for what’s going on. We need to lead through our example.”
Blitzer: “Is there a connection between what’s happening in Venezuela and Cuba, which is another subject close to your heart?”
Rubio: “Well the connection is the Cubans get free and cheap oil from the Venezuelans. So their interest is keeping this regime in place because they’re their benefactors. The Cubans have been deeply involved in the government apparatus in Venezuela for many, many years, going back to Hugo Chávez. One of the chants in the streets now among the protesters is, ‘We don’t want to become Cuba.’ And Cuba is clearly involved in assisting the Venezuelan government with both personnel and training and equipment to carry out these repressive activities, including, for example, the ability to shut down Twitter and social media. I think it’s a broader part of an agenda that Cuba has in furthering terrorism around the world. As we saw very recently, a UN report found that Cuba helped North Korea evade UN sanctions. So, this is par for the course with the Cuban regime.”
Blitzer: “Because you tweeted on February 23rd, ‘Havana’s puppet, Nicolás Maduro, can attack me, but world sees what he is doing to people of Venezuela.’”
Rubio: “That’s what he is. He is a puppet of Raul Castro, as Chávez was of Fidel. He’s largely controlled by what the Cuban government tells him they want him to do. And I think within Venezuela, within the Venezuelan government, and certainly within the Venezuelan population, it’s created a tremendous amount of resentment.”
Blitzer: “So you see targeted sanctions as one option right now?”
Rubio: “Certainly.”
Blitzer: “Is the indication that the administration is ready to do that?”
Rubio: “Well there’s no indication the administration’s even thinking too much about Venezuela right now, and that’s unfortunate. I think we hope to be able to change that. But I think this is part of a broader issue with foreign policy in this administration. They largely view these things as challenges to be managed, rather than causes to be advanced. And so the interest of the administration seems to be stability at all costs, as opposed to furthering our national interest on some of these issues.”
Blitzer: “So be specific, if you had your way, if you were Secretary of State or President of the United States, what would you do right now?”
Rubio: “Well the first thing we have to understand is that many of these Venezuelans officials in their government have assets in the United States. The Venezuelan government has operations in the United States, non-diplomatic operations, those should be targeted to be closed down and those individuals need to be sanctioned.” …
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