US Senate votes to curb military action in Venezuela

WASHINGTON – The US Senate voted on Thursday to advance a resolution that would bar President Donald Trump from taking further military action against Venezuela without congressional authorisation, even as Trump said U.S. oversight of the troubled nation could last years.

The Senate voted 52 to 47 on a procedural measure to advance the war powers resolution, as a handful of Trump’s fellow Republicans voted with every Democrat in favour of moving ahead toward a final vote on the matter.

Earlier, Trump told the New York Times in an interview published on Thursday that the US could oversee Venezuela and control its oil revenue for years.

Trump also appeared to lift a threat of military action against Venezuela’s neighbour, Colombia. Trump invited Colombia’s leftist leader, whom he had previously called a “sick man,” to visit Washington.

“Only time will tell” how long the United States will oversee Venezuela, Trump said. When asked by the newspaper if it would be three months, six months, a year or longer, Trump said: “I would say much longer.”

“We will rebuild it in a very profitable way,” Trump said of Venezuela, where he sent troops to seize President Nicolas Maduro in a night raid on Saturday.

Trump added that the US was “getting along very well” with the government of interim President Delcy Rodriguez, a longstanding Maduro loyalist who had served as the ousted leader’s vice president.

Meanwhile, Venezuela’s top lawmaker, Jorge Rodriguez, said on Thursday that a significant number of both foreign and Venezuelan prisoners would be freed during the day.

The liberations, a repeated demand of the country’s political opposition, are a gesture of peace, Rodriguez said, adding the action was unilateral and not agreed upon with any other party.

Top opposition leader Maria Corina Machado’s movement, as well as other opposition figures and human rights groups, have demanded the release of political prisoners since the US capture of Maduro.

Local rights group Foro Penal estimates there are 863 political prisoners in the country, including political figures, human rights activists, protesters arrested after the disputed 2024 election, and journalists.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment on the planned prisoner release.

The Times reported Trump declined to answer questions about why he had decided not to give power in Venezuela to the opposition, which Washington had previously considered the legitimate winner of the 2024 election.

The Senate measure faces a steep climb to become law. It would need to be passed by the House of Representatives – which is also controlled by Trump’s Republicans. If both chambers pass the resolution, each would need to secure a two-thirds majority to override a likely Trump veto. But it marked a rare sign of congressional Republican pushback against the Trump White House.

“Republicans should be ashamed of the Senators that just voted with Democrats in attempting to take away our Powers to fight and defend the United States of America,” Trump said in a social media post.

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