Donald Trump has set his sights on a US takeover of Greenland after capturing Nicolas Maduro and saying he would run Venezuela.
“We do need Greenland, absolutely,” the US president told The Atlantic magazine, adding that the Danish territory was “surrounded by Russian and Chinese ships”.
He said officials in his administration would decide what happened to Greenland, which Mr Trump has claimed the US must annex for its security. “We need it for defence,” he said of Greenland. President Trump has declared that America needs Greenland for “national security.”
Mette Frederiksen, the Danish prime minister, urged Mr Trump to “stop the threats”, adding that Greenland is “not for sale”.
“The US has no right to annex any of the three nations in the Danish kingdom,” she said, pointing out that Denmark already has a defence agreement with America, which gives it access to Greenland, and that Copenhagen had boosted its investment in the Arctic region’s security.
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“I would therefore strongly urge the United States to stop the threats against a historically close ally and against another country and another people who have very clearly said that they are not for sale,” she added.
Jens-Frederik Nielsen, the prime minister of Greenland, earlier on Sunday rebuked the Trump administration, calling it “disrespectful” and saying that the territory was “not for sale”.
He was referring to an image posted on social media by Katie Miller, the wife of Mr Trump’s deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, showing the map of Greenland painted with the US flag and captioned “SOON”.
Ulf Kirtsersson, the prime minister of Sweden, said on X: “It’s only Denmark and Greenland that have the right to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland. Sweden fully stands up for our neighbouring country.”
The mission to capture Mr Maduro has triggered concerns about further US military operations in the Western hemisphere, which the Trump administration views as part of America’s sphere of influence.
A US invasion of Greenland is deemed unlikely by analysts who point out that the Danish territory is a part of the Nato alliance along with the United States.
However, the renewed threats are likely to alarm European leaders as the American split with the continent grows.
The US will be keeping a close eye on Delcy Rodriguez, Mr Maduro’s vice-president, who was sworn in as interim president by the country’s supreme court on Sunday.
Mr Trump warned that she would pay a “big price” if she failed to cooperate with the US.
“If she doesn’t do what’s right, she is going to pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro,” he told The Atlantic.
He said on Saturday that Ms Rodriguez was “essentially willing to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again”. Ms Rodríguez has rejected suggestions that she will follow US orders.
Mr Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, are expected to appear in a Manhattan court on Monday, charged with narco-terrorism and possession of machine guns.
A 25-page indictment accuses the pair of kidnap, beatings and murder to sustain a drug-trafficking operation run by cartels using fake passports allegedly dished out by the president.
Ms Flores was pictured on Sunday night for the first time since the raid. She can be seen in a green hoodie and white trousers being escorted by an American police officer.
Officials in the US revealed on Sunday that a cyber attack on Venezuela allowed helicopters to fly in and capture Mr Maduro.
At least 80 people, including civilians and security personnel, were killed in accompanying air strikes, a senior Venezuelan official told The New York Times.
JD Vance, the US vice-president, defended the mission. “I understand the anxiety over the use of military force, but are we just supposed to allow a communist to steal our stuff in our hemisphere and do nothing? Great powers don’t act like that,” he said.
Washington has said it launched the operation to topple Mr Maduro to stop drug-trafficking into the US and to get access to its vast oil reserves, the largest in the world.
Trump ‘enraged by mocking video’
Mr Trump was reportedly moved to order the daring ambush after being enraged by a video of Mr Maduro dancing to an electronic remix of his own speech, “No War, Yes Peace,” on Dec 30.
The US president thought the Venezuelan leader was “mocking” him and calling his bluff, a week after the US struck a dock that Mr Trump claimed was used to house drug-trafficking boats.
The US ruled out immediate elections in Venezuela on Sunday. Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, said talk of a vote was “premature”, adding that America would run Venezuelan policy through the parts of the regime still in power.
“Let’s be realistic here,” he told NBC on Sunday when asked about elections. “What we are focused on right now is all of the problems we had when Maduro was there – we still have those problems in terms of them needing to be addressed.”
Armed members of a pro-government militia were seen on Saturday stopping civilians in parts of the city that remain loyal to the toppled leader.
Elsewhere, crowds gathered in subway stations looking for charging stations after power cuts were reported in parts of the city.
Mr Rubio said on Sunday that the US wanted to give Ms Rodríguez “an opportunity to address the challenges” in Venezuela as a transitional government taking instructions from Washington, DC.