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Venezuela leader strikes conciliatory tone while renewing claim US wants to topple government to access vast oil reserves.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Venezuela is open to negotiating a deal with the United States to combat drug trafficking, President Nicolas Maduro has said, even as he remained silent on a reported CIA-led strike on his country last week.<\/p>\n The latest statement, made during an interview that aired on Thursday, comes as Maduro has struck a more conciliatory tone towards the US amid Washington\u2019s months-long sanctions and military pressure campaign.<\/p>\n list of 3 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n That included, on Thursday, the release of more than 80 prisoners accused of protesting his disputed victory in the 2024 election, the second such release in recent days.<\/p>\n \u201cWherever they want and whenever they want,\u201d Maduro told Spanish journalist Ignacio Ramonet of the idea of dialogue with the US on drug trafficking, oil and migration in an interview on state TV.<\/p>\n He stressed that it is time for both nations to \u201cstart talking seriously, with data in hand\u201d.<\/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.<\/p>\n Still, Maduro renewed his allegations that the US is trying to topple his government and gain access to Venezuela\u2019s vast oil reserves through Washington\u2019s months-long sanctions and military pressure campaign.<\/p>\n \u201cIf they want oil, Venezuela is ready for US investment, like with Chevron,\u201d he added, referring to the US oil giant, which is the only major oil company exporting Venezuelan crude to the US.<\/p>\n Asked point-blank by Ramonet if he confirmed or denied a US attack on Venezuelan soil, Maduro said: \u201cThis could be something we talk about in a few days.\u201d<\/p>\n To date, Maduro has not confirmed a US land attack on a docking facility that allegedly targeted drug boats.<\/p>\n For months, the US has launched numerous strikes on alleged drug smuggling boats originating from Venezuela, in what rights groups have decried as extrajudicial killings. The Trump administration has also imposed a blockade on sanctioned oil tankers entering and exiting Venezuela\u2019s coast.<\/p>\n Tensions further escalated after Trump revealed earlier this week a strike on a docking area for alleged Venezuelan drug boats, in the first known attack on Venezuelan territory of the US campaign.<\/p>\n Trump has not confirmed widespread reports in US media that the attack was a CIA operation or where it occurred, saying only it was \u201calong the shore\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was a major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs,\u201d he told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.<\/p>\n \u201cSo we hit all the boats and now we hit the area, it\u2019s the implementation area, that\u2019s where they implement. And that is no longer around.\u201d<\/p>\n The US president has repeatedly threatened ground strikes on drug cartels in the region, which he has labelled \u201cnarcoterrorists\u201d. He has claimed, without providing evidence, that Maduro leads a trafficking organisation that aims to destabilise the US by flooding it with drugs.<\/p>\n However, regional experts have noted that Venezuela is not known to be involved in the illicit fentanyl trade, which far and away accounts for the highest number of overdose deaths in the US. Trump has labelled the drug a \u201cweapon of mass destruction\u201d.<\/p>\n Maduro has said the Trump administration\u2019s approach makes it \u201cclear\u201d that the US \u201cseek to impose themselves\u201d on Venezuela through \u201cthreats, intimidation and force\u201d.<\/p>\n Maduro\u2019s interview was taped on New Year\u2019s Eve, the same day the US military struck five alleged drug-smuggling boats, killing at least five people.<\/p>\n The latest attacks bring the total number of known boat strikes in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific to 35 and the number of people killed to at least 115, according to numbers announced by the Trump administration.<\/p>\n Venezuelans and Colombians have been among the victims.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Venezuela leader strikes conciliatory tone while renewing claim US wants to topple government to access vast oil reserves. Venezuela is open to negotiating a deal with the United States to combat drug trafficking, President Nicolas Maduro has said, even as he remained silent on a reported CIA-led strike on his country last week. The latest […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7251,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latin-america-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7250"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7250\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n
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