Donald Trump tasked his secretary of state, Marco Rubio, with "running" Venezuela following the military's ouster of President Nicolás Maduro over the weekend, and according to an analysis from iNews, it's a task the "could make or break him" and his 2028 ambitions.
The son of Cuban immigrants, Rubio has claimed over the years to have inherited anti-communist leanings from his family and has been outspoken in his opposition to Latin American rulers like Maduro in Venezuela and the Castros in Cuba. He is widely considered to have been the architect of the recent attack on Venezuela and the broader campaign to exert American influence in Latin America.
According to iNews's analysis of Rubio's situation from Tuesday, he "did not look thrilled by the news" that he would be in charge of shepherding Venezuela following Maduro's arrest, "aware perhaps of the huge challenges in making a success of the task he had been given." June Dreyer, a professor of political science at the University of Miami, told the outlet that Rubio had been given a "poisoned chalice" with this task, and that "it would look very bad" for him if he failed to help "kick-start Venezuela’s economy" or if the prosecution of Maduro in the US failed.
All these high-stakes responsibilities, the outlet concluded, could have profound consequences for Rubio's future political ambitions. While he was still a senator for Florida, Rubio ran for president in 2016, dropping out of the GOP primary after losing his home state to Trump. Now, he is considered one of the leading contenders for the 2028 nomination, alongside Vice President JD Vance.
“Obviously he can’t screw it up, or it will make his political future very much in doubt,” Dreyer said. “There are so many unknowns.”
Rubio also appears to have notable Trump administration allies in this pursuit. In the bombshell Vanity Fair interviews with White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, her relatively positive comments about Rubio compared to Vance -- whom she said has been "a conspiracy theorist for a decade -- were interpreted by some as a sign that she is backing him over the vice president as Trump's successor.
For now, Rubio faces a major uphill battle in Latin America based on the narrative he is attempting to sell in Latin America. According to Rob Burrell, a senior research fellow at the University of South Florida, he runs the risk of seriously angering those in the region with the spin he is presenting.
"What narrative are [they] painting?” Burrell said in a statement to iNews. “The narrative we’re painting is that the U.S. is an imperialist power. That is not a narrative that’s well accepted in Latin America. And Rubio knows that."
Burrell added: “I think he wants to see change in the region. I think Venezuela was his number one target. But if you piss off everybody around there, then good luck with that.”