{"id":216071,"date":"2026-01-02T05:21:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T05:21:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/216071\/"},"modified":"2026-01-02T05:21:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T05:21:07","slug":"venezuela-open-to-talks-on-drug-trafficking-says-maduro-but-refuses-to-comment-on-reported-us-strike-on-land-venezuela","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/216071\/","title":{"rendered":"Venezuela open to talks on drug trafficking, says Maduro, but refuses to comment on reported US strike on land | Venezuela"},"content":{"rendered":"

Venezuela is open to negotiating an agreement with the US to combat drug trafficking, the country\u2019s president Nicol\u00e1s Maduro<\/a> has said, but he declined to comment on a reported CIA-led strike on a Venezuelan docking area that Donald Trump claimed was used by cartels.<\/p>\n

Maduro, in the pre-recorded interview with Spanish journalist Ignacio Ramonet, reiterated his belief that the US wants to force a change of government in Venezuela and gain access to its vast oil reserves<\/a> through its months-long pressure campaign that began with a massive military deployment to the Caribbean Sea<\/a> in August.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are they seeking? It is clear that they seek to impose themselves through threats, intimidation and force,\u201d Maduro said, later adding that it is time for both nations to \u201cstart talking seriously, with data in hand.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Trump administration<\/a> has accused Maduro of heading a drug cartel and says it is cracking down on trafficking, accusations he denies.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe US government knows, because we\u2019ve told many of their spokespeople, that if they want to seriously discuss an agreement to combat drug trafficking, we\u2019re ready,\u201d he said. \u201cIf they want oil, Venezuela<\/a> is ready for US investment, like with Chevron, whenever they want it, wherever they want it and however they want it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chevron is the only major oil company exporting Venezuelan crude to the US. Venezuela has the world\u2019s largest proven oil reserves.<\/p>\n

In the interview, Maduro refused to confirm whether the US had carried out an attack inside Venezuela, after Trump on Monday said<\/a> the US had hit a docking facility that served Venezuelan drug trafficking boats last month.<\/p>\n

Asked point-blank about the attack, Maduro said \u201cthis could be something we talk about in a few days.\u201d<\/p>\n

US media \u2013 including the Associated Press \u2013 has reported that the CIA was behind the strike which was made using a drone.<\/p>\n

If confirmed, the first strike on land would mark a new phase in a campaign<\/a> that since August has involved the deployment of a massive US naval fleet, airstrikes on alleged drug traffickers<\/a> and a \u201ctotal blockade\u201d of sanctioned oil tankers<\/a>, the seizure of two vessels<\/a> and the pursuit of a third.<\/p>\n

Maduro said he has not spoken to Trump since a conversation they had on 12 November, which he described as cordial and respectful.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that conversation was even pleasant, but since then the evolution has not been pleasant. Let\u2019s wait,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The interview was recorded on New Year\u2019s Eve, the same day the US military announced strikes against five alleged drug-smuggling boats<\/a>. The latest attacks bring the total number of known boat strikes to 35 and the number of people killed to at least 115, according to numbers announced by the Trump administration. Venezuelans are among the victims.<\/p>\n

Trump has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States and asserted that the US is engaged in an \u201carmed conflict\u201d with drug cartels. The strikes began off Venezuela\u2019s Caribbean coast and later expanded to the eastern Pacific Ocean.<\/p>\n

With the Associated Press and Agence France-Presse<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Venezuela is open to negotiating an agreement with the US to combat drug trafficking, the country\u2019s president Nicol\u00e1s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":216072,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-216071","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=216071"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216071\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/216072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}