Donald Trump and Nicolas Maduro spoke by phone last week. They discussed the possibility of seeing each other face to face, according to what was published by the New York Times on Friday. This information became known a day after the US President announced a “rapid” ground intervention to combat alleged “narco-terrorist groups” after a three-month campaign in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific that resulted in 21 attacks and 83 deaths.
The New York Times reported that during the phone call they discussed the hypothesis of a possible meeting between them, amid the American military threat against Venezuela. The conversation took place over the weekend, according to the newspaper, and there are currently no plans for such a meeting.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio participated in the conference, and it was held days before the State Department’s designation of Maduro as the alleged leader of what the administration considers a foreign terrorist organization, the alleged Suns Cartel, took effect.
The New York Times reported in October that Maduro had offered the United States a large stake in the country’s oil fields, along with other offers to American companies, in order to ease tensions. But US representatives broke off those talks early last month because they demanded Maduro’s departure from power.
It remains to be seen what this call will translate into at a time when the Trump administration is using missile attacks to bomb ships that, according to the United States, are involved in drug smuggling without providing any evidence for its claims.
The United States also sent an aircraft carrier to waters near Venezuela, and Air Force bombers to the region, in addition to preparing secret action plans and regularly threatening to use force.
On Thanksgiving night, flanked by military leaders, Trump said Thursday that attacks to stop drug traffickers would move to ground operations: “The terrain is easier, but it will start very soon”:
“Kill them all”
The order was from Pete Hegseth, the Secretary of War. This occurred before the first attack against alleged drug boats in the Caribbean, on September 2, according to the Washington Post on Friday: “The order was to kill everyone.”
A missile was launched off the coast of Trinidad, hitting the ship and setting fire to it from bow to stern. For several minutes, commanders watched the ship burn via live drone footage. When the smoke cleared, they got a surprise: Two survivors were clinging to the smoldering remains, TWP reports.
The special operations commander overseeing the Sept. 2 attack — the first action in the Trump administration’s war against suspected drug traffickers in the Western Hemisphere — ordered a second strike in compliance with Hegseth’s instructions, two people familiar with the matter said. The two men were left collapsed in the water.
Hegseth’s order, which has not been issued before, adds another dimension to the campaign against suspected drug dealers.
Some current and former U.S. officials, as well as experts on the law of war, have said the Pentagon’s deadly campaign — which has killed more than 80 people so far — is illegal and could expose those directly involved to future legal action, TWP reports.
