The New York Times is claiming that Marco Rubio is basically running Venezuela as its "de facto viceroy" from Washington, D.C. But @statedeptspox Tommy Pigott says the reality on the ground tells a different story: “It's no secret that we have a better relationship with the authorities in Venezuela than we did under Maduro. I think that's actually a testament to the earthquake response that we've seen. The fact that it was instantaneous, the fact that we've seen the interim authorities cooperating fully on this matter… a lot of progress has been made, and there are implements in place to make sure that there's accountability, there's cooperation, there's insight that we have when it comes to the movement of Venezuela and the direction we want it to go. We have this three-phase plan that we're working towards, eventually to see a partner in the region, a long-term partner.”