Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared that the Venezuelan government is “illegitimate.”

“Maduro is NOT the President of Venezuela and his regime is NOT the legitimate government,” Rubio wrote on X. “Maduro is the head of the Cartel de Los Soles, a narco-terror organization which has taken possession of a country.  And he is under indictment for pushing drugs into the United States.”

Maduro is NOT the President of Venezuela and his regime is NOT the legitimate government. Maduro is the head of the Cartel de Los Soles, a narco-terror organization which has taken possession of a country. And he is under indictment for pushing drugs into the United States.

— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) July 27, 2025

Last year, Maduro won reelection in Venezuela’s presidential race. The Joe Biden administration responded by accusing Maduro of stealing the election and insisting that opposition figure Edmundo González was the rightful leader.

The Biden State Department used analysis from the Carter Center as the basis for its election rigging claim. While then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken asserted that the Carter Center is “independent,” the organization is funded by the State Department and several other Western states openly hostile to Maduro.

It was unclear whether President Donald Trump would continue the regime change effort in Caracas. Early in his second administration, Trump’s crisis envoy, Richard Grenell, traveled to Venezuela to meet with Maduro and returned with six Americans who were imprisoned in the country.

Soon after, the White House adopted a more aggressive policy, however. Rubio seized a plane owned by the Venezuelan government in February. Later that month, Trump announced that the US would step up the economic war on the South American nation.

Rubio, who is also serving as Trump’s national security adviser, is a long-time advocate of US intervention in Latin America, repeatedly calling for Maduro’s ouster.

Trump supported the attempted overthrow of Maduro during his first term, backing opposition leader Juan Guaido after he declared himself the rightful president of Venezuela. Guaido led a brief coup attempt in 2019 that fizzled in a matter of days, but garnered the full endorsement of Washington. Trump also used “maximum pressure” sanctions in an effort to weaken the Venezuelan economy and Maduro’s hold on power.

However, Guaido never gained significant popular support and the Biden administration eventually abandoned him in favor of González.