The Venezuelan government revealed that President Nicolás Maduro sent a letter to President Donald Trump, expressing an openness to dialogue amid strikes on boats believed to be carrying drugs.
Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez released the letter on September 21.
Maduro wrote in the September 5 letter that “there are many controversies regarding the relationship between the United States and Venezuela,” explaining that his regime has “observed a proliferation of disinformation.”
“In recent weeks, the false accusations of links with mafias and drug trafficking gangs by high-ranking Venezuelan authorities have dominated the news,” the letter adds. “This is the most egregious instance of disinformation against our nation, intended to justify an escalation to armed conflict that would inflict catastrophic damage across the entire continent.”
“President, I hope that together we can defeat the falsehoods that have sullied our relationship, which must be historic and peaceful, as always envisioned by our Liberator, Simón Bolivar,” Maduro wrote.
Upon sharing the letter, Rodriguez said it “reflects the irrefutable truth of Venezuela: we are a territory free of illicit activities, peaceful and secure. The military threat against Venezuela, the Caribbean, and South America must end, and the CELAC Peace Zone declaration must be respected.”
President Trump has confirmed three strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean.
“On my Orders, the Secretary of War ordered a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization conducting narcotrafficking in the USSOUTHCOM area of responsibility,” Trump wrote on Truth Social last week. “Intelligence confirmed the vessel was trafficking illicit narcotics, and was transiting along a known narcotrafficking passage enroute to poison Americans. The strike killed 3 male narcoterrorists aboard the vessel, which was in international waters. No U.S. Forces were harmed in this strike.”
