Trump offers Maduro safe passage or face consequences in Venezuela: report

President Donald Trump gave Nicolás Maduro a harsh ultimatum to leave Venezuela just before announcing that the country’s airspace should be closed, according to a report.

Per Miami HeraldWashington’s warning was delivered in a phone call from Caracas, and Maduro offered guaranteed release for his wife Cilia Flores and their son, but only if the dictator agreed to resign on the spot.

U.S. officials said the talks stalled and Washington escalated dramatically within hours.

The impasse arose because Maduro “requested global amnesty for all the crimes he and his group committed, and this request was rejected,” one source reported.

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“Second, they wanted to keep control of the armed forces, similar to the Violeta Chamorro incident in Nicaragua in ’91. In return, they would allow free elections.”

The final issue was timing, as Washington demanded Maduro’s immediate resignation, but Caracas refused.

Trump continued to announce Saturday that Venezuelan airspace would be considered “totally closed.”

The Herald also reported that Maduro’s government tried to schedule another call to Washington but received no response.

Maduro and key players in his regime may face the most serious threat yet, according to a defense expert familiar with the country’s military and state-related cartel ties.

Former Venezuelan diplomat said: “I think the operations will start soon” Vanessa Neumann he told Fox News Digital.

“The clearing of the airspace is an indication and a very clear public warning that missiles may be coming to disable command and control infrastructure or retaliatory infrastructure,” Neumann said. “This won’t be like breaking a jar into a thousand pieces; this is where you can increase the concentration of power and it’s easier to manage.”

“Targets have been identified through covert operations by individuals in the field over the last several years,” he continued. “So they’re well mapped. It’s a capture-or-kill scenario, but there’s a limit to the number of people you can take out quickly.”

On Sunday, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One “not to read anything” into Venezuela declaring its airspace closed when asked if an attack was imminent.

“Maduro also doesn’t have many options and his army is very weak,” he warned. “You can’t go after 30 people scattered around at the same time, but Maduro himself is definitely at the top of the list.”

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US strikes on drug ships near Venezuelan waters could be aimed at overthrowing Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro. (@realDonald Trump/Truth Social; Jesus Vargas/Getty Images)

Venezuela’s armed forces, once among the most powerful in Latin America, have been weakened by years of corruption, sanctions, defections and lack of maintenance. Neumann says most of his equipment has never been serviced.

“Their materials are extremely old, rotten and not maintained,” Neumann explained.

“They buy scrap from Russians. The scrap they buy from Americans is decades old and has not been maintained.

“So they have neither personnel, nor external support, nor materials,” he said.

Before closing its airspace, the United States also officially designated the Cartel de los Soles, a cartel with alleged ties to the Venezuelan government, as a foreign terrorist organization.

“This cartel turned Venezuela’s main oil company into a narcotics trafficking money laundering operation, using the company’s access to international financing until sanctions were imposed,” said Neumann, who works with governments to combat international organized crime linked to the group. he said.

“They were using Venezuelan military jets to bring cocaine from Colombia, process it in Venezuela, and then transport it to Central America and then to Europe.

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Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has reportedly been told he must leave Venezuela to save himself and his family. (Ariana Cubillos/AP Photo)

“Jet pilots make a lot of money from this and torture people. They target people, make anyone who informs them disappear,” Neumann said. “They have now become one of the major drug trafficking networks to the United States and Europe and are using their military position, including military-to-military relations, to amplify and accelerate these movements.”

In fact, in September, the European Parliament voted in favor of the EU designating the Cartel de los Soles as a terrorist organization.

“Cartel de Los Soles is also a major collaborator and financier of Hezbollah, and some of its drug money has been used to finance terrorist attacks that have killed American citizens, even in the Middle East.” NeumannCEO of Asimetrika Group, which specializes in defense cooperation.

The United States has also stepped up its military and intelligence campaign targeting drug trafficking networks linked to Venezuela, including attacks on suspected narcotics boats.

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President Donald Trump walks from Marine One after arriving on the South Lawn of the White House on Tuesday, July 29, 2025, in Washington. (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP)

“It’s President Trump’s decision because when he says ‘Go,’ we go. And no one knows when he’s going to say it,” Neumann said. he said. “He’s mobilized a lot of assets there now. But what President Trump is doing now is long overdue.”

“The timing is now,” he added. “Because even Russia and Iran, Maduro’s biggest supporters, are lagging behind, and China will not go that far in supporting Maduro because it has bigger and broader interests in the region.”

He also noted that “Maduro is also weakened because his partners are weakened and they have their own problems” and “we now have a fairly unified concentration of power and deep pressure within the country, which means it is easy to reverse the situation.”

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Government loyalists hold a poster of former President Hugo Chavez in front of the presidential palace during a rally in support of the re-election of President Nicolás Maduro, a month after the presidential vote, on Wednesday, August 28, 2024 in Caracas, Venezuela. (Ariana Cubillos/AP Photo)

Neumann identified other individuals in the regime who could be targeted, including Vice President Delcy Rodríguez, Minister of Internal Affairs, Justice and Peace Diosdado Cabello, and Alexander Granko Arteaga, head of Venezuela’s counterintelligence agency DGCIM.

“One of the reasons why Granko is an important figure is that he is one of the reasons why they did not surrender and there was no military uprising,” Neumann said. he explained.

“This is due to the brutality inflicted by counterintelligence on their own army and the torture of hundreds of soldiers. However, the Venezuelan people made it clear that they wanted Maduro to be overthrown and fought democratically, but lost,” he added.

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“They voted in elections, they protested peacefully, they lobbied for sanctions, and they lobbied for international support,” Neumann said.