Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro indicated Monday that he’s open to direct talks with the Trump administration, calling for diplomacy as a substitute of confrontation because the U.S. Navy’s most superior plane service joined nearly a dozen different American warships off his nation’s shores in a tense standoff.
The administration accuses Maduro of facilitating drug trafficking into america, however the Venezuelan chief says the U.S. is attempting to overthrow him.
“Those who want to speak with Venezuela will speak,” Maduro mentioned in Spanish, including in English: “Face-to-face.”
The Venezuelan chief made the remarks on his tv program, which aired in Venezuela on Monday. He was requested by an interviewer about reviews that President Trump was contemplating talking with him.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro speaks throughout an occasion in Caracas, Venezuela, Nov. 15, 2025.
Pedro Mattey/Anadolu/Getty
“Venezuela’s position is unwavering: Absolute respect for international law. We firmly reject the threat or use of force to impose rules between countries,” Maduro mentioned. “We reaffirm what the U.N. Charter, our Constitution, and our people say: Only through diplomacy should free nations understand each other. Governments must seek common ground on mutual interests only through dialogue.”
Maduro’s feedback got here hours after President Trump mentioned he can be keen to speak with the Venezuelan chief, whereas not ruling out deploying U.S. troops on the bottom in Venezuela.
Maduro has denied all accusations that he works with cartels and mentioned he believes the drug trafficking claims are a pretext for a U.S. navy operation to take away him from energy.
Maduro has “done tremendous damage to our country, primarily because of drugs, but really because we have that problem with other countries too, but more than any other country, the release of prisoners into our country has been a disaster,” Mr. Trump mentioned within the Oval Workplace on Monday. “He’s emptied his jails. Others have done that also. He has not been good to the United States. So we’ll see what happens. At a certain period of time, I’ll be talking to him.”
The Trump administration has offered no proof thus far to substantiate claims that Venezuela has intentionally despatched criminals to the U.S.
On Sunday, Mr. Trump informed reporters that “we may be having some discussions with Maduro, and we’ll see how that turns out. They would like, they would like to talk.”
The Ford arrived because the U.S. moved to designate the “Cartel de Los Soles” group as a international terrorist group — a shift Mr. Trump mentioned may open the door to concentrating on Venezuelan belongings and infrastructure.
D’Agata reported Tuesday that there are actually about 15,000 U.S. troops at sea within the area and on land in Puerto Rico, the place U.S. F-35 stealth fighter jets have been seen flying practically across the clock.
The U.S. navy has carried out strikes towards at the least 22 vessels that the Trump administration alleges had been transporting medicine to the U.S. from South America, killing at the least 83 folks.
Maduro has condemned these strikes — the legality of which has additionally been questioned by rights teams, the United Nations, different international locations within the area, and a few lawmakers within the U.S. — since they started in September.
