DANIEL ESTRIN, HOST:
We turn now to Representative Joaquin Castro. He's a Democrat from Texas. Congressman, good morning.
JOAQUIN CASTRO: Good morning. Good to be with you.
ESTRIN: Thanks for being here. You are the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere. Were you informed of this operation in Venezuela, or were you involved in the planning of it?
CASTRO: We got no notice at all from the White House or from anyone, which is remarkable because during the briefing that Secretary Rubio and others gave to us in the last week that we were in session before the Christmas break, he said that they would come before Congress to get an AUMF, an authorization for use of military force, for anything that required it. And at the time, we were - they were talking about a land invasion, which this clearly is. So the administration did this without coming before Congress, without allowing Congress to weigh in, and more than that, without notifying the whole Congress and even a big part of the folks on the Foreign Affairs Committee and on the intelligence committee, which is the other committee that I sit on.
ESTRIN: OK, wow. So you were not informed. You were among the lawmakers who introduced a war powers resolution in December to block President Trump from escalating operations in Venezuela. That was rejected by the House. Were you expecting at all this kind of land operation?
CASTRO: Well, we were concerned about that, and for years Congress has been on the sidelines of being part of decisions like this, and I believe that the American people send us to Washington to be part of big decisions like this for the country. And, you know, we've got to put this in some context here. The United States, for decades, had a history in Latin America of backing coups and regime change that destabilized many governments there. And I'm glad that there were no American service members that were hurt, that there were no American casualties. And Maduro was not a good guy to his people, but this is a case of regime change, and it hearkens back to the way that America operated in decades past. And what we could see is destabilization in the area in Venezuela in particular.
Remember, this is a country where you've already had, over the last 20 years, millions of people flee the country. And there'll be a power vacuum. So we don't know exactly how this is going to turn out, whether you're going to get somebody better in that position than Nicolás Maduro or not at this point, or whether Donald Trump is going to install a leader that he likes. And the problem there is that Donald Trump and his administration and his family, quite honestly, have done and are doing a lot of things around the world for personal profit, in this case, oil and minerals, perhaps, and not in the best interests of the American people.
ESTRIN: How do you think about how the U.S. might proceed with other potential conflicts now? I'm thinking of Iran, which President Trump threatened this week with more bombing.
CASTRO: Well, I think that a lot of people are finding it very ironic and even hypocritical that this - as a candidate, Donald Trump pitched himself as a peace president, and now he's entering conflicts around the world and really destabilizing, at least in this case, Venezuela, I can't imagine, is not going to be destabilized, and just getting us involved in more wars around the world.
ESTRIN: As you mentioned, Maduro has been a bad person to his people, as you said earlier. He's been criticized by rights groups for crackdowns. Many people in Venezuela are suffering. Are you concerned that this kind of regime change might have the opposite impact in Venezuela in terms of regional stability?
CASTRO: Absolutely. Look, I wish the best for the Venezuelan people. I've said all along that the people of Venezuela, just like the people of the United States and our country, should be the ones to determine who their next leader is. But there's a real chance here that what appears to be a good thing, getting a guy who's acted like a dictator out of there, it could turn into a bad thing. I hope that's not the case, but again, there's a power vacuum here. This is a case of regime change. You're probably going to have an element in Venezuela, obviously, that's very upset about the United States or any country coming in there and doing it like this. And history has shown that there often and within nations, especially once the United States, if we're not going to have any role at all, then when there's no - there are no forces keeping peace, they usually start to fight with each other, and I think that's what you could see here.
ESTRIN: Briefly, Congressman, how do you think this latest development in Venezuela - how might it change America's strategic priorities around the world?
CASTRO: Well, I mean, I think that it's not going to gain us many friends. I think it's going to cost us friends because the world sees it as you went in there and you did regime change and you overthrew the leader of a country. And, you know, I think that in that region especially, more countries will run to the arms of Russia and China. Those leaders - they don't want to suffer the same fate.
ESTRIN: We'll leave it there. That's Joaquin Castro. He represents Texas in the U.S. House. Congressman, thank you so much for speaking with us this morning.
CASTRO: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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