President Donald Trump Saturday warned Venezuelan political figures that "what happened" to their leader, Nicholas Maduro, "can happen to them" if they do not treat the people of their country fairly.
"This extremely successful operation should serve as a warning to anyone who would threaten American sovereignty or endanger American lives," Trump said. "All political and military figures in Venezuela should understand what happened to Maduro can happen to them, and it will happen to them if they aren't just fair, even to their people."
Further, Trump said that the embargo on all Venezuelan oil will remain in full effect, and the "American armada remains poised in position" near the country.
"The United States retains all military options until [its] demands have been fully met and fully satisfied," Trump declared. "The dictator and terrorist Maduro is finally gone and Venezuela people are free. They're free again. It's been a long time for them, but they're free."
The United States, he added, is a "safer nation this morning" after the targeted strikes on Venezuela.
"It's a prouder nation this morning because it didn't allow this horrible person and this country that was doing very bad things to us," he said.
"It didn't allow it to happen, and the Western Hemisphere is right now a much safer place to be," said Trump.
Trump also said Saturday that under his administration's national security strategy, "American dominance in the Western Hemisphere will never be questioned again."
"For decades, other administrations have neglected or even contributed to these growing security threats in the Western Hemisphere," he said. "We are reasserting American power in a very powerful way in our region, and our home region is very different than it was just a short while ago."
Trump added that "we had great dominance in my first term, and we have far greater dominance right now."
"Everyone's coming back to us," he said. "The future will be determined by the ability to protect commerce and territory and resources that are core to national security. These are core to our national security, just like tariffs are."
He promised that his administration will "secure our borders."
"We will stop the terrorists, we will crush the cartels, and we will defend our citizens against all threats foreign and domestic," said Trump.
"Other presidents may have lacked the courage or whatever to defend America, but I will never allow terrorists and criminals to operate with impunity against the United States."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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