00:00This is Apropos. Trump-backed authorities in Venezuela have deployed armed militia to patrol the streets and operate checkpoints in what's being viewed as a show of force to stifle dissent following the toppling of Nicolas Maduro.
00:15This as the country's interim president gets down to the business of running the country under pressure from Washington to grant access to Venezuela's oil reserves while attempting to keep supporters of Maduro on site.
00:27The U.S. president, meanwhile, says he's planning talks with oil executives later this week as Monte Francis reports.
00:35Meeting for the first time since the U.S. struck Venezuela and deposed its president, members of the Organization of American States roundly criticized the U.S., including Colombia, the latest target of threats by Donald Trump.
00:47The conference had to adjourn when a protester interrupted, accusing the U.S. of an imperial oil grab in Venezuela.
00:58At an event in Washington, Donald Trump did little to abuse his critics of that notion, saying he was focused on the country's oil.
01:06I'm also meeting with oil companies. Let's go. You know what that's about. We've got a lot of oil to drill, which is going to bring down oil prices even further.
01:15Earlier, in an interview with NBC, Trump maintained that the U.S. would run Venezuela and that it was too early for elections there, saying we have to nurse the country back to hell.
01:26He also said a team would oversee the next steps, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Pegseth, White House advisor Stephen Miller and Vice President J.D. Vance.
01:37Meanwhile, as former President Nicolas Maduro faces drug trafficking charges in New York, Venezuela's attorney general said the former president deserved immunity from the charges as a head of state.
01:48This capture has been totally null and in violation of international law, in violation of the international covent on civil and political rights,
01:58in violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Constitution of the United States itself.
02:05And in Cuba, on state TV, the nation announced the names and ranks of the 32 Cuban military and interior ministry personnel killed in Venezuela during the U.S. raid.
02:16The death toll, a reflection of Cuba's close ties with Venezuela and a reminder of what Cuba now stands to lose.
02:23For more, we're joined now by Colin Harding, a consultant on Latin America and the Caribbean and former Latin America editor of the independent newspaper.
02:34Colin, thanks so much for being with us this evening.
02:37The big question, what exactly happens next?
02:41Trump again warning the interim president of Venezuela that further military action is possible if she fails to comply with his demands.
02:49Will she?
02:50Where do things go from here?
02:51Well, that's a very good question.
02:54I mean, at the moment, it's quite clear that the Americans removed President Maduro,
03:02not in order to bring about regime change or to restore democracy or put in power the people who actually won last year's elections,
03:11but to ensure stability and continuity.
03:15There is one theory that Delsi Rodrigo and her brother Jorge, who's the president of the National Assembly, another very powerful figure,
03:24that they made a secret pact with the Americans, that they would give up Maduro and in return that they would continue in power on condition that they went along with the American requirements,
03:37which, as we know, very much have to do with ensuring American access to the Venezuelan oil industry.
03:47Anna, we're seeing reports of journalists having been detained.
03:52Our correspondent earlier confirming that armed police are patrolling the streets, they're checking people's phones, their WhatsApp updates.
04:00Is what we're seeing in Venezuela actually really regime change?
04:05And who is fundamentally running the country right now?
04:09No, it's not regime change.
04:11It's business as usual.
04:14Delsi Rodrigues, who's now the interim president, as previously she was vice president, she was in control of the secret police, who are known as CEDIN.
04:24And they're still very much in business, and there are multiple security agencies in Venezuela, and lots of civilian militias, known as colectivos who go around armed.
04:37These are the enforcers of the regime, and they're still there.
04:43The American takeover, as I've said, was not about regime change.
04:48It's about keeping things ticking over while the Americans ensure that the changes are made to government policy to enable American companies to return to Venezuela in the oil industry,
05:07and to make sure that the government stops drug flows through Venezuela, and stops the Chinese and the Russian and Iranian influence, which have been growing in Venezuela in recent years.
05:25And Donald Trump earlier saying that he's going to be holding talks with major players in the oil industry later this week.
05:31What do you make of his claims that the U.S. oil industry could be up and running, as he put it, within the space of a year and a half?
05:38And what does that tell us about what Trump might be, what he might have in mind when it comes to his longer-term plans for Venezuela?
05:48Well, he seems to think that the oil companies, the American oil companies, are raring to go.
05:55You know, there's quite a history here.
05:57The oil industry in Venezuela was partially nationalized in 1976.
06:04And then again, in the early years of this century, the previous president, Hugo Chavez, changed the basis on which foreign oil companies could operate in Venezuela to joint ventures in which they had a minority stake.
06:18And ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips, two really big players, left the country and went to arbitration, claiming that they hadn't been paid compensation for having their assets nationalized.
06:34And those disputes are still going on.
06:36And I think in the case of both Exxon and ConocoPhill, they're being very cautious indeed, because before returning to Venezuela, they want to be given assurances about the legal framework, about security, about conditions.
06:51And, of course, the oil price, the world oil price at the moment, is not favorable.
06:57So I think President Trump's apparent belief that it's just a question of the oil companies sweeping into Venezuela and reviving the industry is being very optimistic.
07:09I don't think there's any assurance at the moment that that is going to happen anytime soon.
07:14And it would take years anyway if they did, because the industry under the control of the Venezuela and very run down national oil company, PDVSA, is in a very poor state.
07:27And I've seen one figure that more than 100 billion dollars would be needed even to restore oil production to the way it was about 10, 15 years ago.
07:36And, Colin, also today we've been hearing from opposition leader Maria Corina Machado.
07:41She's vowing to return to Venezuela.
07:44She says she's supporting Donald Trump, but she's rejecting the rule of Maduro's deputy.
07:49Why do you think she's been sidelined?
07:52Some media outlets in the U.S. suggesting it's because she accepted the Nobel Peace Prize.
07:59Well, that is possibly a factor.
08:01I think it's more that the Trump administration has, in a way, learned the lessons of previous interventions in countries like Iraq and Libya,
08:14where the head of state, the bad guy who was running the country, was removed.
08:20And the apparatus, the political and institutional apparatus supporting them, was dismantled.
08:28And the result of it was chaos and fragmentation.
08:31So they don't want that.
08:32They want continuity.
08:35They want people who can work with the powers that be in Venezuela, who are very much the military and the state bureaucracy.
08:45And Delcia Rodriguez and her brother are very much, they're very well installed.
08:52I mean, Delcia particularly has been an oil minister, finance minister, foreign minister, head of the secret police.
09:01So she is well connected with all the power centers in Venezuela.
09:07And Maria Corina Machado is very popular in the country.
09:13But if she was allowed to take over, she would want to bring her own people in.
09:20And there might be resistance.
09:22There might be chaos.
09:24I think that's what the Americans are concerned about.
09:27They want a transition in which they remain very much in control.
09:31And speaking of the Americans, we've heard in the last few minutes, shortly before we came on air, actually, the White House issued a statement saying that acquiring Greenland was a priority, saying that Trump and his advisers are discussing options, including purchasing the territory.
09:47How concerned should Europe, should Denmark, should people in Greenland be about what Donald Trump is actually planning here?
09:53I think they're very concerned indeed.
09:57And the prime minister of Denmark has said that if the Americans were forcibly to take over in Greenland and it's hard to see anybody stopping them, this would be the end of NATO.
10:08This would be possibly the end of the European Union and certainly the world order that we've known it until now.
10:16So I think everybody, not just the Danes, is very concerned about what the Americans have in mind.
10:24And Stephen Miller, a very influential figure in the Trump administration, has said it's obvious that the Greenland should belong to the United States and this is going to happen.
10:34Colin, we'll have to leave it there for now.
10:36We're out of time.
10:37But thanks so much for being with us on the programme.
10:39That's Colin Harding, a journalist and a consultant on Latin America and the Caribbean.
10:43Thanks so much.
10:44Well done.
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