Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has mentioned he’s open to negotiating with Washington to fight drug trafficking within the first signal that sustained U.S. stress is taking its toll on the embattled South American chief.
“The U.S. authorities is aware of, as a result of we’ve informed a lot of their spokespeople, that in the event that they need to critically focus on an settlement to fight drug trafficking, we’re prepared,” Maduro mentioned in a taped interview aired Thursday on state TV channel teleSUR.
However in his wide-ranging dialog with Spanish journalist Ignacio Ramonet, he declined to touch upon an alleged floor assault on a docking facility alongside Venezuela’s shoreline final month, which some media studies mentioned was carried out by the CIA.
The spy company declined to touch upon the studies it was behind what could be the first-known land assault on Venezuela by the U.S. The CIA not often, if ever, publicly acknowledges its work.
However President Donald Trump mentioned Monday the U.S. had “knocked out” a facility tied to Venezuela. “We simply knocked out — I don’t know if you happen to learn otherwise you noticed — they’ve a giant plant or large facility the place they ship the, you understand, the place the ships come from,” Trump mentioned within the interview. “Two nights in the past, we knocked that out. So we hit them very onerous.”
Trump didn’t present additional particulars throughout the interview with WABC radio and NBC Information has not independently confirmed the strike. The White Home didn’t provide any additional touch upon his remarks when requested about them on Friday.
In a unprecedented and unprecedented acknowledgment from a commander in chief, Trump additionally mentioned in October that he had licensed the CIA to take unspecified motion in Venezuela.
Maduro’s interview comes within the midst of a monthslong stress marketing campaign by the Trump administration on the nation that has seen dozens of lethal strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats within the Caribbean Sea and the jap Pacific and a rise in U.S. naval presence off the nation’s coast.
In November, America’s largest plane provider, the usGerald R. Ford, arrived within the Caribbean.
The White Home says the strikes are aimed toward stopping drug cartels and stemming the circulate of narcotics into the U.S. However some U.S. lawmakers have questioned their legality and the usage of the U.S. navy to hold them out.
The most recent strike on two alleged drug-trafficking vessels got here New Yr’s Eve, U.S. Southern Command mentioned in an announcement. 5 folks have been killed, it mentioned.
Since launching the strikes in September, the Trump administration has not supplied proof supporting its allegations concerning the vessels or the folks on board.
The U.S. additionally seized oil tankers off the Venezuelan coast final month and has ordered a blockade of all sanctioned tankers and has labored to stop them from entering into and leaving the nation.
Requested about what the U.S. is attempting to realize, Maduro mentioned in his interview that it was searching for to impose itself “by threats, intimidation and pressure,” in accordance with a translation of his interview by The Related Press.
However he additionally appeared to strike a conciliatory tone, suggesting there was room for cooperation between Caracas and Washington — in relation to drug trafficking and the nation’s huge oil reserves.
“If they need oil, Venezuela is prepared for U.S. funding, like with Chevron, every time they need it, wherever they need it and nonetheless they need it,” he mentioned.
Maduro has beforehand denied having any ties to the drug commerce, and has accused the U.S. of “fabricating” a conflict towards him. However he informed Ramonet that he needed peace and an amicable relationship between the 2 nations.
“The U.S. folks ought to know that right here they’ve a pleasant, peaceable folks, and so they even have a pleasant authorities,” Maduro mentioned, in accordance with the English translation of the interview revealed on teleSUR’s web site.
The U.S. doesn’t acknowledge Maduro as Venezuela’s reputable president after the 2024 election was extensively seen as rigged.
Trump mentioned in November he was contemplating talks with Maduro, however in an interview the next month, he mentioned that Maduro’s “days are numbered.” In a separate interview with NBC Information, he mentioned that he was not ruling out conflict with Venezuela.
Requested concerning the alleged strike on Venezuelan soil final month, Maduro appeared to evade the query, solely saying he might speak about it “in just a few days,” in accordance with the AP translation.
