U.S. Framework for Venezuela

Marco Rubio has said that the U.S. has a three-point plan for Venezuela. The country is completely controlled by the United States but "it will be up to the Venezuelan people to transform their country.”

1. Stabilization of the country. This basically means keeping the dictatorship in place while the U.S. sorts out the oil to prevent chaos. That will somehow enrich both the U.S. and the average Venezuelan. There aren't details.

2. Recovery. This means sorting out the oil, which in turn means selling it. To what countries and how is not stated. There aren't details.

3. Transition. This political and has zero details. When does it end? No one knows.

Rubio also said, "This is not just winging it" even though this is textbook winging it. It has the feel of a cocktail napkin plan that took no more than 15 minutes to develop.

Donald Trump talked extensively about the grab operation itself, which involved months of planning, but clearly there wasn't much thought given to the aftermath, except that María Corina Machado, who has the Nobel Peace Prize that Trump openly covets, was to be excluded and the dictatorship maintained. 

At least at the moment, there is a lot of talk but nothing has changed except the leadership. The Venezuelan people are being attacked by their own government, all U.S. sanctions remain in place, and oil tankers are being taken without any sense of what happens to them.