Amid rising tensions between the two nations, US President Donald Trump stated on Sunday that he had just spoken with Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro. Meanwhile, Caracas denounced what it described as US preparations for an attack.
With a significant military buildup in the Caribbean, the designation of an alleged drug gang led by Maduro as a terrorist organization, and Trump’s menacing declaration that Venezuelan airspace is “closed,” the United States is putting increasing pressure on Venezuela.
Caracas maintains that regime change is the ultimate goal, while Washington claims the military deployment started in September is intended to reduce drug trafficking in the area.
It went neither well nor poorly, in my opinion. “It was a phone call,” Trump said to reporters on Air Force One on Sunday.
The Wall Street Journal claimed on Saturday that conditions of amnesty in the event that Maduro resigned were discussed, while the New York Times reported on Friday that Trump and Maduro had discussed a potential meeting.
On CNN’s “State of the Union” discussion show on Sunday, Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin stated that Maduro has been given the option to flee his nation and relocate to Russia or another country.
Maduro, the political heir to the late Marxist leader Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, is accused by the United States of leading the “Cartel of the Suns” and has been offered a $50 million reward for his capture.
However, Venezuela and its allies maintain that there is no such organization at all.
What Washington refers to as the Cartel of the Suns, according to a number of Venezuela analysts, is the corruption of high-ranking officials by criminal organizations.
Additionally, Maduro is not acknowledged by the US as the rightful victor of the presidential election held last year.
Trump has not openly threatened to use force against Maduro, but he has recently stated that attempts to stop drug trafficking “by land” from Venezuela will start “very soon.”
Help from OPEC?
As a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Venezuela claims to have asked for support to “stop this (American) aggression, which is being readied with more and more force.”
During a virtual conference of OPEC ministers, Vice President Delcy Rodriguez, who also serves as Venezuela’s oil minister, delivered a letter from Maduro to the group with the request.
Maduro claimed in the letter that Washington “is trying to seize Venezuela’s vast oil reserves, the biggest in the world, by using military force.”
At least 83 people have died as a result of US airstrikes targeting suspected drug-trafficking vessels in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean Seas since September.
Many experts have questioned the legality of the operations, and Trump’s administration has provided no hard proof to support the claims made during its campaign.
The US military carried out a follow-up strike in September that killed survivors of an original attack, according to US media on Friday.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reportedly gave the order to “kill everybody,” according to the Washington Post and CNN, but Trump said on Sunday that Hegseth had denied making such an order.
Trump told reporters, “We’ll look into it, but no, I wouldn’t have wanted that — not a second strike.” “Pete said he did not order the death of those two men.”
Extrajudicial Executions
Jorge Rodriguez, the speaker of Venezuela’s congress, reportedly visited with relatives of Venezuelans slain in the strikes on Sunday.
Regarding a potential call between Trump and Maduro, he would not comment.
However, in response to a question concerning the Hegseth order report, he stated, “If a war had been declared and led to such killings, we would be talking about war crimes.”
“Given that no war has been declared, what happened…can only be characterized as murder or extrajudicial executions,” he stated.
The largest aircraft carrier in the world has been sent to Caribbean waters as part of the US military’s ongoing buildup, and American bombers and fighter fighters have frequently flown off the coast of Venezuela in recent days.
Although six airlines have canceled flights to Venezuela, the Caracas airport was operating normally on Sunday.
