The President of the United States, Donald Trump, held a phone conversation last weekend with Nicolás Maduro, during which he warned that if the Venezuelan dictator doesn't leave Caracas in the short term, Washington "will multiply military actions" against his regime, according to Infobae.
The call also included the Secretary of State and National Security Advisor, Marco Rubio, a key figure in the hemisphere policy of the Republican administration, making it clear that the White House has already ruled out any alternative negotiation path with the regime, such as the oil contracts that some sectors had proposed to facilitate the start of a political transition.
This time, Trump did not propose a dialogue table nor did he offer a roadmap to reduce military pressure. On the contrary, he reaffirmed his decision to move forward against the drug cartels operating under the protection of the Miraflores Palace.
Donald Trump y Nicolás Maduro.
According to the account published by Infobae, Trump directly demanded that both Maduro and the main figures of the regime leave Venezuela.
The U.S. president made it clear that the exit is not only for Maduro: Diosdado Cabello, Vladimir Padrino López, and siblings Delcy and Jorge Rodríguez should also flee, as they are identified as part of the power core that benefited from illegal businesses linked to drugs, weapons, and oil, in addition to maintaining a repressive apparatus responsible for systematic human rights violations.
Initially, in the first secret conversations between Washington and Caracas, there had been consideration of allowing Maduro to leave and for a possible democratic transition to be led by Delcy and Jorge Rodríguez. However, that possibility is no longer on the table: Trump now demands that Maduro and his top officials escape in the short term.
Donald Trump y Nicolás Maduro.
Just a few hours after the call, the U.S. administration took another key step. The State Department announced the designation of the Cartel de los Soles as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), which gives the U.S. government greater legal tools to pursue the criminal group led by Maduro himself.
The measure coincides with the deployment of a Pentagon military blockade near the Venezuelan coast and with new Treasury powers to financially strangle the regime and target strategic objectives within its territory.
During a Zoom call with military personnel for Thanksgiving Day, Trump reinforced his stance: "You have probably noticed that people no longer want to deliver drugs by sea, and we're going to start stopping them by land. Also, by land it's easier, but that's going to start very soon. We warned them to stop sending poison to our country."
In response to a specific question from Infobae, a White House spokesperson categorically ruled out any in-person meeting between Trump and Maduro to negotiate a transition. "It's a fabrication," the official stated.
