Michelle Kellerman

Outside the State Department, exiled Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado says she told Rubio she wants to go back as soon as possible.

And millions of Venezuelans abroad who want to go back and rebuild.

But that requires rule of law, she says.

And for now, the Trump administration is working with the woman who served as Nicolas Maduro's vice president, Dulce Rodriguez, who Machado says was an essential part of a, quote, criminal regime.

Michelle Kellerman, NPR News, the State Department.

Secretary Rubio is defending the January military raid that ousted Nicolas Maduro and left in place the Venezuelan Vice President, Delce Rodriguez.

He says the end state is still a democracy, but that will take time, and he sees no need for any future military action.

He wants to reopen an embassy soon.

Democrats pressed him on contracts that Trump donors have gotten to move Venezuelan oil.

Rubio called that a short-term fix and said the goal is to get Venezuela to have a normal energy program.

Michelle Kellerman, NPR News, the State Department.

We have indications that the security forces made mass arrests in several cities, even pursuing injured people into hospitals and detaining lawyers, human rights defenders, activists and ordinary civilians.

The State Department is putting Laura Dogu in charge of the Venezuela Affairs Unit in Bogota, Colombia.

She's a two-time ambassador to Honduras and Nicaragua and is a high-ranking career member of the U.S.

Foreign Service.

A State Department official describes this appointment of a charge d'affaires as part of a three-phase plan for Venezuela in the wake of the U.S.

ouster of Nicolas Maduro.

The statement says that Ambassador Dogu is well-positioned to lead the U.S.

team during what it calls a transition period in Venezuela.

There's still no word on when the U.S.