Venezuela’s leader struck a conciliatory tone, reiterating that the United States wants to overthrow the government to access its vast oil reserves.
President Nicolas Maduro has said Venezuela is open to negotiating a deal with the United States to combat drug trafficking, although he has remained silent about the CIA-led attacks on his country that were reported last week.
The latest statement, made in an interview aired Thursday, comes as President Maduro strikes a more conciliatory tone toward the United States amid a months-long sanctions and military pressure campaign by Washington.
Recommended stories
list of 3 itemsend of list
That included the release on Thursday of more than 80 prisoners accused of protesting his 2024 election victory, the second such release in recent days.
In an interview on state television, President Maduro told Spanish journalist Ignacio Ramonet about the idea of dialogue with the United States on drug trafficking, oil and immigration “where they want, when they want.”
He stressed that the time has come for the two countries to “start serious discussions with data in hand.”
“The U.S. government knows because we’ve told a number of spokesmen that if we want to seriously discuss an agreement to combat drug trafficking, we’re ready,” he said.
Still, President Maduro reiterated his assertion that the United States is seeking to overthrow the Venezuelan government and gain access to Venezuela’s vast oil reserves through months of Washington sanctions and a military pressure campaign.
“Venezuela is open to U.S. investment, like Chevron, if they want oil,” he added, referring to the U.S. oil giant, which is the only major oil company exporting Venezuelan crude to the United States.
Asked directly by Ramonet whether he would confirm or deny the U.S. attack on Venezuelan territory, Maduro said: “We may talk about this in the next few days.”
To date, President Maduro has not confirmed any U.S. ground attacks on wharf facilities that are said to have targeted drug ships.
Over the past few months, the United States has launched a number of attacks on suspected drug smuggling ships from Venezuela, in what human rights groups have denounced as extrajudicial killings. The Trump administration also imposed a blockade on sanctioned oil tankers traveling to and from the Venezuelan coast.
Tensions further escalated earlier this week when President Trump announced an attack on a suspected Venezuelan drug ship’s anchorage, the first known US attack on Venezuelan territory.
President Trump did not confirm that the attack was a CIA operation or that it was widely reported in the US media about where it took place, saying only that it was “along the coast.”
“There was a large explosion in the pier area where drugs are loaded onto boats,” he told reporters at the Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
“So we attack all the boats, and now we attack that area. That’s the enforcement area, that’s where they enforce. And that doesn’t exist anymore.”
The US president has labeled drug cartels in the region “narco-terrorists” and has repeatedly threatened ground attacks. He claimed, without providing evidence, that Mr. Maduro was leading a human trafficking ring aimed at destabilizing the United States by flooding it with drugs.
But regional experts say Venezuela is not known to be involved in the illegal trade in fentanyl, which accounts for the vast majority of overdose deaths in the United States. President Trump has labeled the drug a “weapon of mass destruction.”
President Maduro said the Trump administration’s approach “makes clear” that the United States is “trying to impose itself” on Venezuela through “threats, threats and force.”
Maduro’s interview was recorded on New Year’s Eve, the same day that the US military attacked five suspected drug smuggling boats, killing at least five people.
The attack brings the total number of known attacks on ships in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean to 35, with at least 115 deaths, according to figures released by the Trump administration.
The victims include Venezuelans and Colombians.
