Trump confirms he recently spoke with Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro | US news
Donald Trump confirmed on Sunday that he spoke with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, but did not provide details about what the two leaders discussed.
When asked if he had spoken to Maduro, the US president said: “I don’t want to comment on that. My answer is yes.” He was speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One.
New York Times first time reported Trump met with Maduro earlier this month and discussed a possible meeting in the United States.
Regarding the meeting, Trump said, “I can’t say it went well or bad. It was a phone call.”
The revelation of the phone call comes as Trump continues combative rhetoric on Venezuela while also entertaining the possibility of diplomacy.
On Saturday, Trump said the airspace above and around Venezuela should be considered “totally closed” but did not provide further details, causing growing concern and confusion in Caracas as his administration ratchets up pressure on Maduro’s government.
Asked if the airspace comments meant attacks on Venezuela were imminent, Trump said, “Don’t put any meaning into that.”
The Trump administration is weighing options on Venezuela to combat what it portrays as Maduro’s role in supplying illegal drugs that are killing Americans. The socialist Venezuelan president has denied any connection with the illegal drug trade.
Reuters reported that an attempt to overthrow Maduro was among the options the US was considering, and that the US military was preparing for a new phase of operations after a major military build-up in the Caribbean and nearly three months of attacks on suspected drug ships off the Venezuelan coast.
Human rights groups have condemned the attacks as illegal extrajudicial killings of civilians, and some U.S. allies have expressed growing concern that Washington may be violating international law.
Trump added that he would investigate whether the US military carried out a second attack that killed survivors during the September operation in the Caribbean and that he did not want such an attack.
US defense secretary Pete Hegseth said the attacks were legal but intended to be “lethal”.
Trump told military service members last week that the United States would begin ground operations “very soon” to stop suspected Venezuelan drug traffickers.
Maduro and senior members of his administration had no comment on the call. When asked about this issue on Sunday, Venezuelan national assembly speaker Jorge Rodríguez said that call was not the subject of the press conference in which he announced the parliamentary investigation into US boat attacks in the Caribbean.
