Without setting foot in Venezuela, Marco Rubio controls the country's finances, natural resources and government, according to a dozen sources close to the governments in Washington and Caracas that The New York Times spoke to.
American elite soldiers seized the country's President Nicolás Maduro in his own bedroom in a spectacular raid in the middle of the night in January and brought him to the United States. He was then replaced by his Vice President Delcy Rodríguez. The United States presented her with the choice of cooperation or a full-scale attack on Venezuela.
Sending selfies
Rubio and Rodríguez now keep in regular contact in Spanish via the messaging service WhatsApp, exchanging gossip, selfies and birthday wishes. But beneath the egalitarian surface, Rodríguez has very limited power over Venezuela, according to the newspaper.
The US Treasury Department handles most of the money from Venezuela's export revenues and then disburses it through the country's banking system - a system that The New York Times likens to a "weekly allowance." Marco Rubio and his staff decide what the money can be used for and by whom.
Want to check oil
Neither Rubio nor the Venezuelan government have commented on the reports. President Donald Trump has said the goal is to take control of Venezuela's vast oil reserves, and has repeatedly suggested that the country should become the 51st state of the United States.
Critics within the Democrats say the US is governing Venezuela without democratic legitimacy, while leaving large parts of Maduro's power apparatus in place. Marco Rubio has described the plan as rebuilding the economy, stabilizing the country and then implementing a transition to democracy. However, it is unclear when free elections can be held.
