Colombian president says Venezuela “will implode” if U.S. runs country for years, as Trump suggested

Colombia’s left-wing President Gustavo Petro told CBS News on Thursday predicted Venezuela would “implode” if the U.S. is in charge of the South American nation for years, as President Trump recently suggested. 

Petro’s remarks came in response to Mr. Trump’s remark to the New York Times that he expected U.S. oversight of Venezuela to last “much longer” than a year. 

“If that happens, Venezuelan society will implode,” Petro said. 

“And there’s a crucial point that’s not so much about Venezuela, but about the idea that the United States has a right over the resources of not only Latin America, but the world,” Petro added. 

The Trump administration has said the U.S. plans to take control of selling Venezuela’s oil and is pushing American companies to invest billions in rebuilding Venezuela’s oil infrastructure. Mr. Trump is meeting with oil executives at the White House Friday to discuss the issue.

Petro and Mr. Trump spoke for the first time Wednesday after the U.S. leader threatened military action against Colombia as part of his crackdown on the flow of narcotics into the country. The call appeared to ease the escalating tensions between the two leaders, and Mr. Trump invited Petro to the White House. 

Petro was critical of Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, who Mr. Trump said he plans to meet with next week. When asked if he would trust or support her as a leader of Venezuela, Petro said, “I invited her once, and she didn’t want to come. I was obviously surprised that Trump thought the same thing as me.” 

After the U.S. captured former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, Mr. Trump said he didn’t believe Machado had enough support inside her country to be a viable leader. Instead, Maduro’s vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, has been sworn in as interim president.

But among the opposition, Machado was polling at 93% ahead in an election last year in which Maduro claimed a decisive victory that the U.S. and Machado say he stole. While the Maduro regime blocked Machado from running, the candidate she backed is believed by the U.S. and many outside observers to have won 70% of the vote.