US President Donald Trump on Tuesday posted a map graphic on his Truth Social platform depicting Venezuela with an inset American flag and the label "51st State."
The provocative post – published while Trump was en route to China for a high-stakes summit – comes a day after Venezuela's interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, said her country had "never" considered becoming the 51st state, even after US forces captured deposed leader Nicolás Maduro in January.
"That would never have been considered, because if there is one thing we Venezuelan men and women have, it is that we love our independence process, we love our heroes and heroines of independence," Rodríguez told reporters as she left a hearing at the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
Since the United States captured Maduro on January 3, Trump has boasted of controlling the oil-rich Caribbean country.
Earlier on Monday, Trump told Fox News that he was "seriously" considering making the South American country a new state.
In a post on his Truth Social network in March, the US leader wrote: "Good things are happening to Venezuela lately! I wonder what this magic is all about? STATEHOOD, #51, ANYONE?"
Rodríguez, for her part, has overseen a thawing of relations with the United States since taking over the country, passing reforms that reopened Venezuela's mining and oil sectors to foreign companies – especially from the US.
Venezuela has signed agreements with various multinational oil companies, including Chevron, Eni, and Repsol, after reforms to liberalise the energy sector.
Rodriguez says the deals mark "where the interests of the United States and Venezuela come together."
The Venezuelan opposition has demanded elections, while Rodríguez – when asked on May 1 about the prospects of a new vote – said she "didn't know" and that it would happen "sometime."
Trump has repeatedly praised Rodriguez, who previously served as Maduro's vice-president.
The interim leader has also pushed through an amnesty law that led to the release of hundreds of political prisoners, though some 500 remain behind bars.
Rodriguez was in The Hague for a hearing at the United Nations' top court over a centuries-old dispute with Guyana over an oil-rich region, in her first trip outside the Caribbean since assuming power.
–TIMES/AFP
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