Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro said he is open to discussions with the United States surrounding drug trafficking.
In an interview with journalist Ignacio Ramone, Maduro said of the U.S. government, “What are they seeking? It is clear that they seek to impose themselves through threats, intimidation and force.”
“The U.S. government knows, because we’ve told many of their spokespeople, that if they want to seriously discuss an agreement to combat drug trafficking, we’re ready,” he added. “If they want oil, Venezuela is ready for U.S. investment, like with Chevron, whenever they want it, wherever they want it and however they want it.”
In December, Maduro issued a letter to leaders of Latin America and the Caribbean, condemning the United States for what it claims is “state piracy” and accusing it of engaging in “extremely serious aggression.”
The letter warned of the “escalation of extremely serious aggression by the Government of the United States of America, the effects of which transcend my country’s borders and threaten to destabilize the entire region and the international system as a whole.” Maduro added that the U.S. military’s presence in the waters is a “direct threat.”
The Venezuelan leader went on to compare the United States’ military presence to the rise of Nazism. “In the 1930s, the silence and passivity of the international community in the face of the rise of Nazism led to an unprecedented human tragedy: the Holocaust and a world war,” the letter read. “Today, historical differences aside, the logic is the same: if the unilateral use of force, the execution of civilians, piracy, and the plundering of sovereign states’ resources are tolerated, the world is headed toward a scenario of global confrontation of unpredictable proportions.”
Venezuela has also arrested American citizens as President Trump escalates pressure on the country.
