Republican Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar threatened top Venezuelan official Diosdado Cabello over a warning he made to opposition leader Maria Corina Machado amid tensions with the U.S.
"Diosdado Cabello, don't you dare touch Maria Corina Machado. The U.S. and the world are watching. If something happens to her, you and your accomplices won't be able to hide and the wrath of God will fall on you like a thunder," the lawmaker said in a social media post.
Diosdado Cabello, ni se te ocurra tocar a María Corina Machado. Estados Unidos y el mundo entero están mirando.
— María Elvira Salazar 🇺🇸 (@MaElviraSalazar) September 4, 2025
Si algo le pasa, tú y tus cómplices no tendrán dónde esconderse y la ira de Dios caerá sobre ti como un trueno.
The message comes after Cabello, vice president of Venezuela's ruling party and Minister of Interior, said he would "go after her" if U.S. forces went after the country's authoritarian government.
"Don't you think that if we get attacked you'll leave unscathed. That won't happen," Cabello said, in reference to Machado's support of the deployment of U.S. troops off the Venezuelan coast and an attack against a vessel that killed 11 people.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has anticipated that such actions will "happen again."
Trump is "going to use the full power of America and the full might of the us to take on and eradicate these drug cartels no matter where they're operating from and no matter how long they've been able to act with impunity," Rubio said this week.
President Donald Trump, on his end, said "we have to protect our country and we're going to." "Venezuela has been a very bad actor. They've been sending millions of people into the country. Many of them are Tren de Aragua, some of the worst people anywhere in the world," he added.
Moreover, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth explicitly warned Nicolas Maduro, saying he "should be worried" after the development.
"The only one who should be worried is Nicolas Maduro, who is acting as the kingpin of a narco state. Not actually elected and indicted for $50 million by the U.S. We know he's involved in the kind of drug-running that has affected the American people directly," Hegseth said during an interview on Fox News.
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