For the time being, he doesn’t want to know anything about fleeing abroad: Nicolás Maduro continues to be combative.Image: keystone
According to a report, US President Nicolás Maduro openly called on him to resign over the phone. But he obviously had his own demands.
12/01/2025, 06:1512/01/2025, 06:21
Donald Trump recently spoke on the phone with Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro. Now details about the content of the conversation are leaking out. The Miami Herald reports, citing “sources familiar with the matter,” that the US president offered his Venezuelan counterpart safe passage for him and his family if he immediately resigns from office.
According to the report, Maduro had his own ideas about changing the balance of power in the Latin American country. On the one hand, he is said to have demanded a global amnesty from Trump for all crimes of which he and his government are accused. On the other hand, he is said to have shown willingness to hand over political power to the opposition if he was allowed to retain control of the army. In return he would enable free elections.
Trump commented on the reports about the phone call on Monday night (Swiss time), but was brief. The conversation took place, but he did not want to comment on it, Trump told reporters on board Air Force One:
“I wouldn’t say it went well or badly. It was a phone call.”
Over the weekend, there were increasing signs of a military intervention by the Americans on the mainland. Trump announced, among other things, on Saturday that he was closing the airspace over Venezuela. He now told reporters that “nothing should be read into it”. However, he is ambivalent; only recently he had said that land operations would be imminent “very soon”. Experts believe it is likely that the USA could take action soon.
Meanwhile, Maduro appeared combative and appeared again on Venezuelan television after days of absence CNN reported. During a visit to a coffee trade fair, he described Venezuela as “indestructible, invulnerable, invincible” and, with his first public appearance since Wednesday, ended speculation in the country that he was preparing to flee or had even already fled.
In recent weeks, the US government has set up a threat base with warships off Venezuela, according to official reports, to take action against drug cartels from the country. Trump has long accused Maduro and his government of being involved in the drug business and having the substances delivered to the USA. The United States placed a bounty of $50 million on Maduro’s head, as well as lower amounts on some members of his government.
The US units have carried out several attacks on alleged drug boats off Venezuela, killing up to 80 people. These attacks are highly controversial under international law. Critics of the US government accuse it of being interested not in the fight against drugs but in the huge oil reserves in Venezuela and therefore seeking a change of power. (con)