US President Donald Trump made a phone call with his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro, in a conversation that may be a prelude to a meeting between the two.
As reported tonight, the New York Times revealed that the conversation, which only became public today, took place over the past week, and is of great importance in the context of tensions between Washington and Caracas.
According to the American newspaper, direct talks between Trump and Maduro could be an indication that there is negotiation between the two parties, either for the latter to accept leaving power or for Trump to abandon his attack on Venezuela, which the majority of his followers do not agree with.
The call, which included Secretary of State Marco Rubio, came days before the State Department’s designation of Maduro and the Sun Cartel as a foreign terrorist organization took effect.
The Trump administration says its goal is to deter drug trafficking, but it has also made clear it wants to remove Maduro from power, possibly by force.
For his part, Maduro, today, Sunday, before the second 2025 ministerial conference of the OPEC+ alliance led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, denounced the United States’ efforts to seize his country’s oil reserves, by maintaining a military deployment in the Caribbean Sea, under the pretext of combating drug smuggling.
Through a letter signed by Maduro and published by his Executive Vice President, Delcy Rodriguez, the Venezuelan executive accused the United States of seeking to seize oil reserves, through “the use of lethal military force against the country’s territory, people and institutions.”
“This claim not only contradicts the provisions governing peaceful coexistence between countries, but also seriously jeopardizes the stability of Venezuelan oil production and the international market,” the Venezuelan letter added.