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Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro Extended an olive branch to the President of the United States Donald Trumpproposed a crackdown on “serious talk” drug trafficking and provide U.S. companies with ready access to the country’s oil.
Mr Maduro describes Venezuela as a “brotherly country” and friendly country to the United States government. He recalled that in their last conversation in November, Donald Trump acknowledged his authority, calling him “Mr. President.”
The comments were made during an interview filmed on New Year’s Eve and later broadcast on Venezuelan state television on New Year’s Day.
During the broadcast, Maduro and his interviewer walked through a military zone in the capital, Caracas. Maduro then drove a car with reporters in the passenger seat and the president’s wife, Celia Flores, in the back seat. Commentators interpreted the gesture as an attempt to project confidence amid fears of a U.S. attack, even though Maduro has reduced his public appearances in recent weeks.
The comments signaled a shift in Maduro’s attitude toward the United States since the United States launched a massive military buildup in the southern Caribbean. Trump accused “illegitimate” Maduro of running a narco-state and threatened to remove him from power.
Maduro has strongly denied criminal links and said the United States is seeking to oust him to gain control of Venezuela’s vast oil reserves and rare earth deposits.
At an event shortly before Christmas, Maduro urged Trump to focus on domestic challenges, saying: “Honestly, if I were to talk to him again, I would tell him that everyone should focus on their own domestic affairs.”
In his latest address, Maduro told interviewers: “I say to the American people what I have always said, Venezuela is a brotherly country…a friendly government.
“We have to start talking seriously and have the facts. The U.S. government knows, because we have said it many times to their interlocutors, that if they want to talk seriously about an agreement to combat drug trafficking, we are ready to do so. If they want Venezuelan oil, Venezuela is ready to receive U.S. investment, like Chevron’s investment, wherever, when and how they want to produce it.”