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Donald Trump said Nicolás Maduro did not want to “fuck around with the United States” and that the authoritarian Venezuelan president offered concessions to Washington to head off growing US military pressure.
Speaking to reporters during a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Trump was asked about his response to reports that Maduro had offered “all the natural resources” in the Latin American country in order to resolve the conflict with the US.
“He has offered everything. You’re right,” the US president said. “You know why? Because he doesn’t want to fuck around with the United States.”
Trump’s comments follow mounting US military escalation aimed at increasing pressure on Maduro, who he considers an illegitimate leader and the head of a drug cartel.
After a series of strikes against vessels the US claims were carrying drugs across the Caribbean Sea in recent weeks, Trump this week said he was considering strikes on Venezuelan soil and had authorised the CIA to launch covert operations in the South American country.
During the meeting with Zelenskyy on Friday Trump said that in a new operation the US had “attacked a submarine” that was a “drug-carrying submarine built specifically for the transportation of massive amounts of drugs”.
He added: “Just so you understand, this was not an innocent group of people.”
Maduro, a revolutionary socialist widely believed to have rigged his re-election last year, has said that the military build-up amounts to attempted “regime change”, and has sought to rally Venezuelans around the flag with military drills and a faltering recruitment drive for civilian militias.
Trump’s comments on Friday follow US media reports that Venezuelan government officials, including vice-president Delcy Rodríguez, have floated plans to Washington in which Maduro would eventually step down, as well as offering access to the country’s oil and mineral resources.
The Trump administration said it had rebuffed any overtures, while Rodríguez — rumoured as a successor to Maduro should he immediately step aside — has denied the reports, characterising them as part of a “psychological war” against the Venezuelan people.
Trump’s comments followed the unexpected announcement that the top US military commander in Latin America, Navy Admiral Alvin Holsey, the commander of US Southern Command, will be retiring at the end of the year after being in the role less than a year.
The New York Times reported that Holsey’s announcement followed concerns about the operations against Venezuelan targets, but Sean Parnell, a senior Pentagon spokesperson, denied that.
“There was no hesitation or concerns about this mission,” Parnell wrote on X.
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