Rubio to Venezuela’s new leader:

You cannot turn Venezuela into an operating hub for Iran, for Russia, for Hezbollah, for China, or for Cuban intelligence agents. That cannot continue.

You cannot have the largest oil reserves in the world under the control of adversaries of the United States.

Rubio on Venezuela:

We do not need Venezuela’s oil. We have plenty of oil in the United States.

What we are not going to allow is for the oil industry in Venezuela to be controlled by adversaries of the United States.

You have to understand: why does China need Venezuela’s oil? Why does Russia need it? Why does Iran need it? They’re not even in this continent.

Rubio:

Why have 8 million people left Venezuela? Eight million — the single largest mass migration probably in modern history — left Venezuela since 2014 because all the wealth of that country was stolen to the benefit of Maduro and his cronies in the regime, but not to the benefit of the people of Venezuela.

You know how destabilizing 8 million migrants is? Do you know the number one fear that Brazil has, that Colombia has, that all these countries in the region have about what’s happening in Venezuela and our involvement? They’re afraid of another mass migration event.

That’s what they fear. This is deeply destabilizing stuff.

Rubio:

The Cuban government is a huge problem. They are in a lot of trouble. I don’t think it is any mystery that we are not big fans of the Cuban regime.

Rubio:

The ones who have sort of colonized Venezuela, at least inside the regime, are Cubans. It was Cubans that guarded Maduro.

He was not guarded by Venezuelan bodyguards. He had Cuban bodyguards.

In terms of their internal intelligence — who spies on who inside to make sure there are no traitors — those are all Cubans.

Rubio:

Venezuela looks nothing like Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, or the Middle East — other than the Iranian agents running through there plotting against America.

These are Western countries. People need to stop ascribing apples to oranges.

Rubio on Venezuela:

This was not an action that required congressional approval... This was not an invasion or an extended military operation.

Rubio:

We will seek congressional approval for actions that require congressional approval.

Otherwise, they'll get congressional notification.

Rubio:

The Biden administration had a $25 million reward for Maduro’s capture.

So we have a reward for his capture, but we’re not going to enforce it? That’s the difference between President Trump and everybody else.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard in 2019:

When we look throughout history, every time the United States goes into another country and topples a dictator or overthrows a government, the outcome has been disastrous for the people of those countries.

Pushing for the use of military force in this civil conflict will only result in more suffering, more death, and more disaster for the Venezuelan people.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene:

The majority of American fentanyl overdoses and deaths come from Mexico. It is Mexican cartels that are killing Americans.

If this was really about narco-terrorism and about protecting Americans from cartels and drugs being brought into the United States, then the Trump administration would be attacking the Mexican cartels.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene:

Americans also celebrated the “liberation” of the Iraqi people after Saddam Hussein. They celebrated the “liberation” of the Libyan people after Gaddafi.

This is the same Washington playbook that so many of us are sick and tired of—one that does not actually serve the American people, but instead serves big corporations, banks, and oil executives.

Venezuelan Defense Ministry:

The Bolivarian National Armed Force strongly rejects the cowardly kidnapping of citizen Nicolás Maduro Moros, Constitutional President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, our Commander-in-Chief, and of his wife, the First Lady Dr. Cilia Flores de Maduro; an act carried out yesterday, Saturday, January 3 of the current year, after cold-bloodedly murdering a large part of his security team, soldiers, and innocent civilians.

We activate, across the entire national geographic space and in perfect civil-military-police fusion, the Full Operational Readiness, in order to ensure the freedom, independence, and sovereignty of the Nation.

WATCH: Heavily armed American forces transporting Venezuela's Maduro staged a show of force on New York streets with van doors open.

Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López:

Yesterday, they kidnapped the person that the people of Venezuela had elected as their President.

Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López:

The National Bolivarian Armed Forces demands the fast release of President Maduro and the First Lady.