U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S. will use leverage over oil to force further change in Venezuela as he seizes a long-awaited chance to try to shape Latin America in Washington’s favor.

Rubio, 54, emerged Sunday as the administration’s chief public voice on Venezuela, laying out hints of strategy after the U.S. swooped into Caracas to remove President Nicolas Maduro and fly him to New York for trial.

The U.S. raid on Saturday suggests that the former U.S. senator from Florida — long one of the most vocal policymakers on Venezuela — won out with his skepticism about negotiating with Maduro, whom the U.S. considered an illegitimate president and accuses of "narco-terrorism” that killed Americans.

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