President Donald Trump was sitting in the Oval Office earlier this year with Secretary of State Marco Rubio when an idea came to him.

Maybe he should dispatch Rubio permanently to Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, where U.S. commandos had carried out the proudest foreign policy achievement of Trump’s second term: the capture of Nicolás Maduro, the country’s president.

Rubio could be the next leader of Venezuela, Trump suggested. And while the president’s aides say he was joking — and that he frequently teases Rubio about an overseas assignment — the fact is that Rubio does not need to move to Caracas.

He already runs Venezuela from Washington, D.C.

In the six months since U.S. forces blew open Maduro’s bedroom door and snatched him in the dead of night, Rubio has become the de facto viceroy of Venezuela, holding sway over a sovereign nation in a way that no U.S. official has since Paul Bremer arrived in Baghdad in 2003 to run U.S.-occupied Iraq.

Rubio now effectively controls Venezuela’s finances, the distribution of its natural resources and its government, according to interviews with more than a dozen officials and people close to both governments in Washington and Caracas, who provided details about his involvement in steering the country’s policies. Many spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private interactions and internal discussions.

While he has not visited Venezuela in person since the U.S. took over, Rubio is deeply involved in the country’s day-to-day operations, keeping in close contact with Delcy Rodríguez, who was Maduro’s vice president and now leads her country on an acting basis, with the imprimatur of the United States. The two exchange messages in Spanish on WhatsApp, trading gossip, birthday greetings and selfies.

Despite the banter, the relationship between Rubio and Rodríguez is far from a partnership. It is a manifestation of Trump-era American power, in which the winner takes all regardless of sovereignty and international law.

The Venezuelan government did not respond to a request for comment. The Trump administration did not address detailed questions about Rubio’s authority in Venezuela. Rubio has downplayed his role and largely avoids discussing his work. He declined multiple requests for an interview.

Tommy Pigott, a State Department spokesperson, said in a statement that “with renewed cooperation and sound economic stewardship, Venezuela can reemerge as a stable, prosperous partner whose citizens benefit from its vast natural wealth and strengthened ties with the United States.”

The direct control over Venezuela’s public revenues, in particular, distinguishes Washington’s influence there from most other countries beholden to its military and financial might.

The U.S. Treasury receives the revenue from most of Venezuela’s exports, then disburses it gradually to Venezuela through the country’s private banks, a relationship akin to parents handing out allowances to children. Rubio and his team set the conditions on what that money can be spent on, and by whom.

This system has allowed Rubio to stop Venezuela’s most egregious corruption schemes. And it brings some benefits to the Venezuelan government, which uses the effective protection of the U.S. Treasury to receive revenues without being hounded by the numerous creditors seeking repayment of billions in unpaid debt.

But the arrangement has also given Rubio immense leverage over Rodríguez, who depends on the money to pay workers and prop up the national currency.

He also oversees the application of U.S. sanctions on Venezuela, deciding who gets to do business in the country and how. He has worked to reshape the oil sector and boosted the access of U.S. companies. For her part, Rodríguez runs important government appointments by him, such as the minister of defense.

Since two earthquakes struck Venezuela last month, Rubio has sought to bolster the country’s interim government. The United States has sent 900 military personnel to Venezuela, committed nearly $400 million in aid and delivered crates of cash to the Venezuelan government.

The earthquakes have complicated Rubio’s stated mission to return Venezuela to democracy (“It’s a setback in that regard,” Rubio acknowledged last month). But the country’s ability to recover is critical to Trump’s ultimate goal: securing Venezuelan oil for U.S. interests.

The arrangement is deeply unusual, unfolding 80 years after the United States relinquished its last sizable formal colony, the Philippines.

But Trump has made clear he wants to return to an era of American expansionism, musing about taking control of Greenland, Canada and the Panama Canal.

The outcome of the Venezuela foray could shape Rubio’s political future as Trump considers his successor.

‘Make Venezuela Great Again’

In the early hours of Jan. 3, shortly after Maduro was captured, Rubio reached Rodríguez by phone. Speaking in Spanish, Rubio told her that she had a choice between working with the United States or witnessing a broader attack targeting Venezuela’s infrastructure, military bases and senior officials.

After some negotiation, Rodríguez agreed.

She told Rubio that “she’s essentially willing to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again,” according to Trump. The president said the United States would “run the country” until there was a “safe, proper and judicious transition” of power.

Days later, Trump told The New York Times in an interview that he expected the United States to run Venezuela for years.

At the center of the fulcrum is Rubio, dubbed by other officials as “viceroy,” the title given to the powerful governors who ruled the Spanish empire until Venezuela and most of its other provinces rebelled and won independence in the early 19th century.

As Rodríguez started to set up her government, Rubio weighed in on key personnel decisions, and encouraged her to purge Maduro’s family and business partners. She followed through.

Most Venezuelans expressed relief at Maduro’s downfall, only to watch in disbelief as the Trump administration struck an alliance with most of his chief enforcers. Inflation has fallen but remains the world’s highest, and the country’s currency keeps losing value. Millions are clamoring for new elections, putting pressure on Rubio to move beyond economic deals and bring political change. Investors are nervous about putting capital into a system that could crumble at any moment.

Before the earthquakes, Rodríguez had been asking Rubio for more financial autonomy and the scrapping of economic sanctions, to reduce the domestic pressure on her government.

Rubio has been sympathetic to her arguments, but the U.S. government has not released control.

Rubio’s work with Rodríguez has provoked grumbling among some career U.S. diplomats, Venezuelan Americans and Trump’s allies, who bristle at the idea that Maduro’s chief lieutenant is in power.

Rubio and other officials have dismissed those concerns, pointing to how Rodríguez has followed nearly every order the administration has made, especially those related to the country’s finances. Venezuela sells much of its oil through two oil trading companies, Trafigura and Vitol, in an arrangement set up by the Trump administration.

Rubio has largely eclipsed Energy Secretary Chris Wright in opening up Venezuela’s oil industry to foreign investment, the cornerstone of Trump’s vision for the country. He has prioritized the arrival of new U.S. companies at the expense of European oil producers that were already working in the country.

Ben Dietderich, a spokesperson for Wright, said the secretary has worked closely with Rubio, and has spoken regularly with energy industry leaders and Rodríguez.

Washington’s grip on Venezuela’s economy extends beyond the oil revenues. Rubio’s team drafts the licenses that provide companies that want to do business in Venezuela with exemptions from sanctions. Rubio has warned Rodríguez’s government to abstain from business with U.S. adversaries. Following Maduro’s downfall, for example, Venezuela’s state oil company has quietly taken over the operations of the oil projects that it co-owns with Russia’s state-run Rosneft. Rosneft did not respond to request for comment.

The Trump administration even exerts control over Rodríguez’s public appearances and statements. In May, Rubio announced that Rodríguez would travel to India before the Venezuelan government mentioned it, surprising Venezuelan officials and foreign diplomats.

When Fox News anchor Bret Baier contacted Rodríguez about participating in an interview, she told him that Trump would have to approve. Trump loved that Rodríguez was deferring to him and has repeatedly recounted the story to others when they ask about her, according to multiple people familiar with his comments.

When the United States attacked Iran, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil issued a soft condemnation of the aggression against Venezuela’s longtime ally.

The Trump administration communicated to Rodríguez that the post should be taken down, and warned her not to publicly support its adversaries again. Gil deleted the post hours after posting it.

In effect, it was an admission that Venezuela no longer sets its foreign policy.

Gil did not respond to a request for comment.

Reassurance From Trump

Rubio was asleep in Bahrain last month when he was awakened by a call from the White House Situation Room. Two massive earthquakes had hit Venezuela, and early images were grim. Entire neighborhoods were flattened, and scores of people were missing.

Shortly after, Rubio spoke to Rodríguez, promising the full assistance of the United States. U.S. rescue teams were on the ground two days later. Rubio has described the administration’s plans for Venezuela in three phases: recover the economy, stabilize the country and transition it to democracy.

Before the earthquakes, U.S. officials said they were in the second phase, working to open up Venezuela to international investment. To further that goal, senior Trump administration officials have traveled to Venezuela to meet their counterparts and strike new energy and mining deals.

The resulting announcements, however, have mostly been optimistic outlines of potential investments.

The success of the efforts to bring stability to Venezuela, the second phase of Rubio’s plan, largely hinges on foreign investment. But investors are cautious. The oil sector is degraded and corrupt, and Rodríguez’s grip on power is uncertain. The earthquakes have delayed the negotiations for new oil contracts.

Trump appears unworried. He has repeatedly suggested that Venezuela could become the 51st state.

Who may lead the country on a more permanent basis is still deeply uncertain. María Corina Machado, the exiled opposition leader, remains the country’s most popular politician. But she has sworn enemies among Venezuela’s security and military officials, leading Rubio to bypass her and settle on Rodríguez as the country’s handpicked leader.

Once a staunch supporter of Machado, Rubio has distanced himself from her in recent months. The cooling relationship between the Trump administration and Machado became an open breach after the earthquakes. U.S. officials have refused to help her return to Venezuela out of fear of stoking unrest.

The time frame for the final phase of Rubio’s Venezuela plan, the free elections, remains undefined. When the Times asked Rodríguez in May when she would hold elections, she said, “I don’t know. Sometime.”

Political analysts say that Rodríguez may be trying to run out the clock on the Trump presidency, hoping that the pressure to hold the vote would fade under his successor.

For now, the question of when an election would be held is not in her hands. It is in Rubio’s.

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Tyler Pager/Anatoly Kurmanaev/Todd Heisler

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