'We have to fix country first,' Trump says on Venezuela elections

"We have to fix the country first. You can’t have an election. There’s no way the people could even vote," Trump said about the possibility of a vote in the next month.

"No, it’s going to take a period of time. We have to nurse the country back to health."

He also suggested that the conflict between Venezuela and the United States could last longer than a month.

In addition, Donald Trump said that the United States may subsidize efforts by oil companies to restore Venezuela’s energy infrastructure, noting that the project could take less than 18 months. He added that while the costs would be enormous, the work could likely be completed more quickly. Trump emphasized that oil companies would initially bear significant expenses, but that the US would later reimburse them.

Situation in Venezuela

In recent days, the US military detained Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro in Caracas, along with his wife Cilia Flores. Both are accused of drug trafficking, including the supply of cocaine and fentanyl to the United States.

However, despite Trump’s long-standing focus on combating narcotics, this is not the only reason for strained relations between Washington and Caracas. Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chávez, nationalized oil fields in Venezuela that had belonged to US companies.

Long before the special operation in Caracas, Trump had warned Maduro and called on him to return what he described as "stolen US assets, oil, and land," reportedly even offering him asylum in Türkiye.

Maduro, however, refused to comply with the demands of the White House and, according to Trump, even staged public dances during the escalation of the conflict, a move that Trump described as the final straw leading to the operation.

Maduro is now awaiting a US court verdict, while Trump has tasked US Secretary of State Marco Rubio with overseeing Venezuela. Trump has previously stated that Washington would administer Venezuela to benefit from its economic advantages.