Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro said his country was open to talks with the US, which for months has appeared to seek his ouster.
Washington has ramped up military pressure on Caracas, striking boats — and recently, it said, a dock on Venezuela’s mainland — in what it has argued is an effort to combat drug trafficking. But experts say the scale of the Trump administration’s military intervention is out of kilter with a counter-narcotics campaign, and suggests instead a push for regime change.
Speaking to a Spanish journalist, Maduro reiterated allegations that Washington sought access to Venezuela’s vast oil reserves, before saying the two countries should “start talking seriously.”