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President Donald Trump said Sunday the U.S. “may be having some discussions” with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, a potential diplomatic avenue as the U.S. further builds up its military presence near the South American country with the arrival of its most advanced aircraft carrier.
Trump didn’t offer details about the possible discussions with Maduro, but he said “Venezuela would like to talk.”
The U.S. military has been carrying out a series of strikes against vessels suspected of transporting drugs. The arrival of the USS Gerald R. Ford and other warships, announced by the Navy in a statement, marks a major moment in what the administration insists is a counterdrug operation but has been seen as an escalating pressure tactic against Maduro.
When asked Sunday what he meant when he said Maduro wants to talk, Trump simply said: “What does it mean? You tell me, I don’t know.”
“I’ll talk to anybody,” he added a few moments later. “We’ll see what happens.”
Maduro, who faces charges of narcoterrorism in the U.S., has said the U.S. government is “fabricating” a war against him.
The Ford rounds off the largest buildup of U.S. firepower in the region in generations. The mission includes nearly a dozen Navy ships and about 12,000 sailors and Marines.
The carrier’s arrival coincided with the military announcing its latest deadly strike on a small boat it claims was ferrying illegal drugs. The military’s Southern Command posted a video on X on Sunday showing the boat being blown up, an attack it said took place Saturday in international waters of the eastern Pacific Ocean and killed three men. The military did not immediately respond to a request for more information.
Since early September, such strikes by the U.S. in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific have killed at least 83 people in 21 attacks.
U.S. military exercises in region
The carrier strike group, which includes squadrons of fighter jets and guided-missile destroyers, transited the Anegada Passage near the British Virgin Islands on Sunday morning, the Navy said.
Adm. Alvin Holsey, the commander who oversees the Caribbean and Latin America, said in a statement that the American forces “stand ready to combat the transnational threats that seek to destabilize our region.”
Holsey will retire next month after serving just one year of a three-year term. He has not publicly commented on the reason for the truncated tenure, with some Democrats suggesting the timing is suspicious given the recent wave of boat strikes.
Description: Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro invoked John Lennon’s peace anthem Imagine during a rally Saturday with supporters, singing along to the iconic song as he called for calm amid escalating tensions with the United States.
In Trinidad and Tobago, which is only 11 kilometres from Venezuela at its closest point, government officials said troops have begun “training exercises” with the U.S. military that will run through much of the week.
Sean Sobers, foreign affairs minister for Trinidad and Tobago, described the joint exercises as the second in less than a month and said they are aimed at tackling violent crime on the island nation, which has become a stopover point for drug shipments headed to Europe and North America. The prime minister has been a vocal supporter of the U.S. military strikes.
Venezuela’s government has described the training exercises as an act of aggression.
Venezuela accuses U.S. of ‘fabricating’ excuse
The administration has insisted that the buildup is focused on stopping the flow of drugs into the U.S., but it has released no evidence to support its assertions that those killed in the boats were “narcoterrorists.” Trump has indicated military action would expand beyond strikes by sea, saying the U.S. would “stop the drugs coming in by land.”
On Friday, Trump said he had “sort of made up my mind” regarding what he planned to do concerning Venezuela.
After a series of attacks on alleged ‘narco traffickers’ off Venezuela, the U.S. has deployed its largest aircraft carrier to the region. For The National, CBC’s Eli Glasner explains why President Trump’s show of force may go far beyond fighting drugs.
Venezuela’s government recently touted a “massive” mobilization of troops and civilians to defend against possible U.S. attacks.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the United States does not recognize Maduro, who was widely accused of stealing last year’s election, as Venezuela’s legitimate leader. Rubio has called Venezuela’s government a “transshipment organization” that openly co-operates with those trafficking drugs.
Rubio said in a statement released Sunday evening that the State Department intends to designate Cartel de los Soles, or Cartel of the Suns, a foreign terrorist organization. When the designation takes effect on Nov. 24, it will be a crime to provide “material support” to the cartel or its members.
Rubio said the cartel is headed by Maduro and other high-ranking members of his government and is among those “responsible for terrorist violence throughout our hemisphere as well as for trafficking drugs into the United States and Europe.” Some experts say such allegations are unproven at best.
Maduro has said the U.S. government is “fabricating” a war against him. Venezuela’s government recently touted a “massive” mobilization of troops and civilians to defend against possible U.S. attacks.
‘Raised a lot of anxieties’
Trump has justified the attacks on drug boats by saying the U.S. is in “armed conflict” with drug cartels while claiming the boats are operated by foreign terror organizations.
He has faced pushback from leaders in the region, the UN human rights chief and U.S. lawmakers, including Republicans, who have pressed for more information on who is being targeted and the legal justification for the boat strikes.
Senate Republicans, however, recently voted to reject legislation that would have put a check on Trump’s ability to launch an attack against Venezuela without congressional authorization.
Among G7 allies, France’s foreign minister said the strikes violate international law.
Canada had been largely silent about the attacks until last week, when Anita Anand, minister of foreign affairs, said it was “within the purview of U.S. authorities to make that determination.”
Anand, like other Canadian officials CBC News asked for comment, stressed that the U.S. strikes were separate from multilateral drug interdiction efforts the Canadian military and the U.S. are involved with under Operation Caribbe.