Venezuela's Maduro Open to US Talks on Drug Trafficking Amid Rising Tensions
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has expressed openness to entering talks with the United States aimed at combating drug trafficking. He declined to comment directly on reports of a CIA-led drone strike on a docking area reportedly used by drug cartels.
Maduro accuses the US of pursuing regime change and seeking access to Venezuela's vast oil reserves. He called for serious negotiations based on concrete data, signaling a readiness to engage despite heightened tensions. Notably, he mentioned that US oil investment could be welcomed under favorable conditions, citing Chevron as a partner already involved in exporting Venezuelan crude to the US.
Chevron is currently the only major oil company exporting Venezuelan crude to the United States, and Venezuela holds the world's largest proven oil reserves.
Relations between the two countries remain strained. The Trump administration has accused Maduro of leading a drug cartel, an allegation the Venezuelan president vehemently denies. Trump previously claimed that a CIA-led drone strike targeted a docking facility used for drug trafficking; this was later reported by the Associated Press to have been carried out by the CIA.
If confirmed, the strike would represent a new phase in a US campaign against Venezuelan drug trafficking, which since August has included Caribbean naval deployments, airstrikes on drug traffickers, sanctions on oil tankers, and over 35 boat strikes with at least 115 deaths.
Maduro stated that he has not spoken to Trump since November 12. The interview where these remarks were made was recorded on New Year's Eve and aired amid ongoing US strikes on drug-smuggling boats off Venezuela’s Caribbean coast, a campaign that has recently expanded to the eastern Pacific as part of a wider US effort against drug trafficking.
