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Ukraine-US-Russia talks to be held this weekend, says Zelenskyy after Trump meeting – latest updates

Curiously, on that specific point of Zelenskyy alleging Europe’s inability to move against Russian oil tankers, France’s Emmanuel Macron has announced – just as the Ukrainian president was speaking – that the French navy boarded one such tanker. In a post on X, Macron said the tanker was “subject to international sanctions and suspected of flying a false flag.” He added: “The operation was conducted on the high seas in the Mediterranean, with the support of several of our allies. It was carried out in strict compliance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. A judicial investigation has been opened. The vessel has been diverted.” Local maritime authorities quoted by AFP said the navy seized an oil tanker called “Grinch” between Spain and Morocco.

Agreement with Nato will give US full and permanent access to Greenland, says Trump

Donald Trump has said an agreement with Nato on Greenland will give the US full and permanent access to the island, as the defence alliance’s secretary general said its members would have to step up their presence in the Arctic. A day after backing away from his threat to use tariffs as leverage to seize Greenland, a largely self-governing part of Denmark, and ruling out the use of force, Trump said on Thursday that the framework deal meant “total access” with “no end, no time limit”. The US president had on Wednesday hailed “the ultimate long-term deal” that he said would settle the transatlantic dispute over Greenland following weeks of escalating tensions that risked the biggest breakdown in transatlantic relations in decades. But the precise terms of the agreement apparently struck between Trump and Mark Rutte, the secretary general of Nato, remained unclear and the Danish government said there was no question of it compromising Denmark’s or Greenland’s sovereignty. “We can negotiate all political aspects – security, investment, the economy – but we cannot negotiate our sovereignty,” said Denmark’s prime minister, Mette Frederiksen. The Danish defence minister, Troels Lund Poulsen, said Rutte “cannot negotiate” on Denmark or Greenland’s behalf. However, Poulsen said, Rutte was working “loyally to maintain unity within Nato” and it was “very positive” that the alliance wanted to do more to strengthen Arctic security. “We are in a much better place today than we were yesterday,” he said. Greenland’s deputy prime minister, Múte Egede, said that whatever pressure other countries might exert, “our country will neither be given away, nor will our future be gambled with”, adding: “It is unacceptable to attempt to hand our land to others.” Trump’s repeated and aggressive assertions that the US needed “complete control” of Greenland have threatened to reignite a trade war with Europe and also risked unravelling the Nato alliance that has guaranteed western security for decades. At the weekend, he threatened to impose a 10% tariff on imports from Denmark, France, Germany, Sweden, the UK, the Netherlands and Finland unless they dropped their objections to his plans, prompting EU leaders to consider retaliation. After meeting with Trump in Davos, Rutte told Reuters on Thursday that Nato would “come together with our senior commanders to work out what is necessary”, adding: “I have no doubt we can do this quite fast. Certainly I would hope for 2026, I hope even early in 2026.” The Nato secretary general earlier told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that he had had a “very good discussion” with Trump on how the transatlantic defence alliance’s members could bolster Arctic security. “One workstream coming out of yesterday … is to make sure when it comes to Greenland, particularly, that we ensure that the Chinese and the Russians will not gain access to the Greenland economy [or] militarily to Greenland,” he said. Nato’s top military commander in Europe, the US general Alexus Grynkewich, said the alliance had not yet received political guidance but was “doing some thinking about how we would organise for it. No planning has started, but we’re ready.” EU leaders are due to gather in Brussels later on Thursday for an emergency meeting to discuss how to handle the unpredictable US president amid a strong sense that transatlantic ties have been badly damaged by his Greenland grab. Shaken EU governments remain wary of another abrupt change of mind from Trump, who many in national capitals and in Brussels consider to be a power-monger to whom the bloc will sooner or later have to stand up. Trump has repeatedly said the US needs to take control of Greenland for “national security”, despite the US already having a military base on the island and a bilateral agreement with Denmark allowing it to significantly expand its presence there. Media reports suggested Wednesday’s deal could revolve around a renegotiation of that 1951 defence pact, which was updated in 2004 to take account of Greenlandic home rule. The US has one base on Greenland, the Pituffik space base. Frederiksen said Denmark wished to “continue a constructive dialogue with its allies on ways to strengthen security in the Arctic, including the US Golden Dome [missile-defence system], provided this is done with respect for our territorial integrity”. European officials cautiously welcomed news of a putative deal. Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, claimed a victory of sorts, saying that Rome had “always maintained it is essential to continue fostering dialogue” between allies. The Dutch prime minister, Dick Schoof, said it was “positive we are now on the path to de-escalation”, but added that the US, Canada and Europe must now “continue to work together within Nato to strengthen security in the Arctic region”. The German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, welcomed Trump’s shift in rhetoric. “Despite all the frustration and anger of recent months, let us not be too quick to write off the transatlantic partnership,” he said in a speech at Davos. “We Europeans, we Germans, know how precious the trust is on which Nato rests. In an age of great powers, the United States, too, will depend on this trust. It is their – and our – decisive competitive advantage,” Merz added. France’s finance minister, Roland Lescure, said the announcement was “a first positive sign that things are moving in the right direction. The magic word for the last 48 hours has been de-escalation. Right now, we’re de-escalating.” Sweden’s foreign affairs minister, Maria Stenergard, suggested resistance from Denmark’s allies had “had an effect”. European leaders had lined up to criticise what the French president, Emmanuel Macron, called Trump’s “new colonialism”. The bloc also floated retaliatory economic action, including tariffs on €93bn (£80bn) of US imports and the bloc’s “big bazooka” – its “anti-coercion instrument” – which would limit US access to European markets including investment and digital services. Teresa Ribera, a European Commission executive vice-president, said the EU needed to speak up against Trump. “Silence is too ambiguous, too dangerous,” she said in an interview with La Vanguardia. “If Europe remains silent in the face of Trump, it fuels fear.” A European diplomat agreed that a strong EU reaction had influenced Trump. “EU firmness and unity have contributed to get him to change his position,” they said. “Obviously also internal political pressure in the US, and market reaction.” However, Germany’s vice-chancellor, Lars Klingbeil, said Europe “should wait and see what substantive agreements are reached. No matter what solution is now found, everyone must understand that we cannot sit back, relax and be satisfied.” Trump’s push for Greenland, first floated in 2019, had intensified dramatically over recent weeks, with the president saying the US would take control of the vast Arctic island “one way or the other”, and: “Now it is time, and it will be done!!!”

Real Madrid could face trial over noise pollution from stadium concerts

Real Madrid could face trial for alleged environmental offences after a Spanish judge ruled there was sufficient evidence that loud concerts held at the club’s Bernabéu stadium, which has been dubbed “the torture-drome” by local residents, could have broken the law. The Residents’ Association for those Affected by the Bernabéu (AVPB) began legal action against the football club and the city council in 2024, saying a series of punishingly loud concerts held that spring and summer had made their lives a misery. Performers included Taylor Swift, Luis Miguel and the Colombian star Karol G. “It’s just hideous – you can’t move your car, you can’t take the dog out, and you’re having to prepare yourself mentally because it’s awful,” one resident told the Guardian at the time. “It also creates health problems – lots of us are suffering from more frequent headaches, stress, anxiety and depression.” Although Real Madrid eventually cancelled or rescheduled all concerts at the arena and said it was working to comply with council noise regulations, the AVPB pushed on with their legal action. It emerged on Thursday that Mónica Aguirre, the judge investigating the complaints, has indicted the club’s CEO, José Ángel Sánchez, and the Real Madrid subsidiary company that operates the venue. According to legal documents seen by the Spanish news agency Efe, both will face “abbreviated proceedings” after Aguirre determined that there were “indications of the commission of allegedly criminal acts” – namely the environmental offence of noise pollution. The complaint alleges that the football club hired out the stadium to concert promoters despite “knowing that the facility lacked the minimum acoustic insulation necessary to avoid contamination of the stadium’s surroundings and an impact on the rights of its neighbours, with serious danger to their health”. Enrique Martínez de Azagra, the president of the AVPB, welcomed the judge’s decision, saying the group had overwhelming evidence of decibel levels “exceeding the zone of health risks” on more than 100 occasions. In a statement released in September 2024, Real Madrid said it had decided to cancel or reschedule all concerts at the Bernabéu. “This decision is part of a raft of measures the club is taking to ensure the concerts comply strictly with the relevant municipal regulations,” it said. The club added that despite the introduction of soundproofing measures, “different organisers and promoters” had still found it difficult to comply with council noise regulations. The club has been contacted for comment.

Spanish train drivers call three-day strike after deadly railway crashes

Spain’s largest train drivers’ union has called a three-day nationwide strike to demand measures to guarantee the safety of rail workers and passengers after two deadly crashes this week killed at least 44 people, including two drivers. At least 43 people died and dozens more were injured after two trains collided on Sunday near the town of Adamuz, in the Córdoba province in Andalucía. Two days later, a driver was killed and 37 people were injured when a train was derailed by the collapse of a retaining wall near Gelida in Catalonia. On Thursday, a number of people were lightly injured when a commuter train in the south-eastern region of Murcia crashed into a crane. Authorities said the incident was caused by “the intrusion … of a crane not belonging to the railway operation”, and the train was not derailed or overturned. The accidents in Adamuz and Gelida led the Spanish railway drivers’ union Semaf to announce industrial action. They have also prompted a stoppage by drivers that has shut down Catalonia’s regional rail services, affecting about 400,000 travellers. The union said three days of strikes would be held from 9 to 11 February, saying the action was “the only legal avenue left for workers to demand the restoration of safety standards on the railway system and, consequently, guarantee the safety of both railway professionals and passengers”. Semaf called for the relevant authorities to ensure people’s safety by addressing the “numerous reports” on poor track conditions that it said had gone “unanswered and inactive for months, or even years”. It added: “The serious accidents in Adamuz and Gelida, both of which resulted in people losing their lives, represent a turning point in demanding that all necessary actions be taken to guarantee the safety of railway operations.” Spain’s transport minister, Óscar Puente, said he understood drivers’ concerns but hoped the strikes could be averted, and he said the stoppage in Catalonia needed to end. He has stressed that the two accidents were “completely unrelated”. The Gelida incident is thought to have been caused by heavy rainfall. “This is a very difficult week,” he told Catalunya Ràdio on Thursday morning. “We need to remain calm and get this where it needs to be. Two terrible incidents have occurred in a very short space of time, and I believe that is significantly impacting the morale of the train drivers. I hope the situation will be resolved soon.” Investigators are continuing to examine the crash site in Adamuz and the wreckage of the two trains. The accident happened at 7.40pm on Sunday when a high-speed train travelling from Málaga to Madrid derailed, crossing on to another track where it hit an oncoming train travelling from Madrid to Huelva. Media reports suggest investigators are focusing on a 30cm (12-inch) crack in the track at the accident site. “There’s an initial point where the derailment is believed to have occurred,” Puente told the radio network Cadena Ser on Monday night. “Now we have to determine if it’s the cause or the consequence. It’s not a trivial matter, and it won’t be quick or easy. We’ll have to send the track to the lab; we have to determine what happened. At this point, nothing can be ruled out.” Puente said marks had been found on the wheels of the first five carriages of the high-speed train, and on the wheels of other trains that had travelled along the same stretch of track before the derailment. “The question now is how those marks appeared,” the minister told the TV channel Telecinco. “Was there something on the tracks, or was the track itself beginning to break down? At this point, it’s not possible to draw any conclusions about what caused those marks.” Spain’s efforts to mourn the dead have been marred by familiar political squabbles. A spokesperson for the far-right Vox party said the Adamuz tragedy was proof of the decline of the country’s once-great rail services. “All Spaniards can see with their own eyes that it’s not safe to travel and that the damage is getting worse by the day,” Pepa Millán said, adding: “Spaniards are scared to get on a train.” Vox’s leader, Santiago Abascal, has attempted to link the Adamuz accident to the series of corruption allegations that have enveloped the socialist-led government. “Corruptions destroys confidence in our institutions,” he said. “And corruption kills.” Meanwhile, the conservative People’s party (PP) called for Puente, who has made numerous media appearances over the past few days, to provide “absolute transparency”. “The minister has a knack for talking,” said the PP infrastructure spokesperson, Juan Bravo. “But it’s time for him to offer explanations and not spend two hours saying nothing.” The government’s spokesperson Elma Saiz said Abascal’s comments were abhorrent. “Given the two tragic nights we’ve just endured, with dozens of injured still hospitalised and not all the bodies recovered, Abascal’s attitude is despicable,” she said. “Using tragedy and fear to generate chaos and distrust is an anti-democratic and inhumane act.”

‘Not a typical day’: makers of Macron’s sunglasses deluged with demand

The world leaders and company executives meeting in Davos this week were meant to be discussing the most complex and alarming geopolitical crisis most could remember. Instead, all eyes were on Emmanuel Macron. The French president’s appearance in reflective Top Gun-style aviator sunglasses was the image that launched a thousand pithy jokes, memes and questions. Had he been injured while sparring in the boxing ring? Had he injured himself while working out in the gym? Did he simply, some wondered, want to avoid looking Donald Trump in the eye? Few could have blamed Macron for channelling Tom Cruise in a mission impossible to neutralise the US president’s plan to take over Greenland and impose 200% trade tariffs on French wine and champagne. Some, like the communication specialist Philippe Moreau Chevrolet, saw the president’s decision to wear the French-made eyewear as symbolic in the context of France’s strained relations with the US. The real reason was more prosaic: Macron was stylishly disguising a subconjunctival haemorrhage, a burst blood vessel in his right eye – a condition he described as “totally benign”. But even he was not immune to cliches. Addressing French troops at a military event last week, Macron had described the problem as “l’oeil du tigre” (the eye of the tiger). The comment referenced the 1982 song by the rock band Survivor used in the boxing film Rocky III starring Sylvester Stallone. For those too young to get the reference, it was a “mark of determination”, he added. For the artisan workers at Maison Henry Jullien in the département of Jura in eastern France, where glasses have been made for more than 100 years, it was publicity impossible to buy. Stefano Fulchir, the president of iVision Tech, the Italian company that owns Henry Jullien, said the first he knew of the presidential endorsement was when French opticians rang him to say: “The president’s wearing our glasses!” When news spread, the company website crashed for most of the day. “My first reaction can be summed up in three letters: wow! It has not been a typical day. I feel very honoured that the president is wearing our glasses,” he said. Macron’s office had contacted the company in 2024 to buy a pair of €659 Pacific S 01 Double Gold sunglasses as a diplomatic gift during the G20 summit and a second pair for himself, he said. “I said I would be happy to send him a pair but they said no. He did not accept them as a gift, but wanted to purchase them personally. The French president paid a lot of attention to whether the glasses were entirely made in France.” iVision acquired Henry Jullien, founded in 1921, in 2023. Fulchir said the team of 10 staff at the factory at Lons-le-Saunier, north of Geneva, produced about 1,000 of the sunglasses worn by Macron a year. The glasses are hand assembled and made using what iVision calls an “ancient technique”, where gold is bonded rather than plated to the base metal, making it harder wearing. The blue-tinted UV lenses are produced by Dalloz, another Jura-based company. Fulchir said the glasses were available at opticians around the world and even in war-ravaged Ukraine, but the company had yet to find a UK distributor. “This is not ordinary eyewear; it’s a luxury product that won’t break after two years and that can be used for a long time. It’s an investment, like jewellery, like a watch,” he said. Jimmy Mohamed, a medical doctor and media commentator, told the French broadcaster RTL that he believed Macron had worn the sunglasses for “aesthetic reasons”. “The glasses protect his image, but not really his eye,” Mohamed said.

What’s in Trump’s Greenland ‘deal’ and will it last?

The outline deal struck by Mark Rutte and Donald Trump to step up Nato’s presence in the Arctic – so long as it does not undermine the sovereignty of Greenland or Denmark – has been available to the US for some time, but it will require new resources being devoted to the central task of monitoring Russian ship movements in the region. What remains in question is whether the deal will stick given Trump’s erratic behaviour, and whether it gives the US president the access to Greenland’s critical minerals as he claims it does. The issue of a multibillion-dollar “Golden Dome” defence shield potentially being partly housed in Greenland also remains unresolved. That leaves the agreement in a fragile state. Over the past year Trump has launched endless impetuous confrontations with maximalist demands, only to back down and then relaunch the fight weeks later, so it is quite possible he is only midway through this exhausting process. Aware of Trump’s volatility, the UK, which played a key role in reaching the agreement by pressing for Nato to do more in the Arctic, was not crowing over Trump’s U-turn, but instead was agreeing that Chinese and Russian fleets did pose a new threat in the high north. The UK foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper, explained why the proposal for a Nato-led “Arctic sentry” made sense. The idea is modelled on two existing sentries set up by Nato in 2025. The Baltic sentry is overseeing the monitoring of undersea sabotage in northern Europe, while the eastern sentry is designed to protect Poland from Russian drone incursions. The Arctic sentry discussed at successive Nato meetings in January is one that the UK and the German defence minister, Boris Pistorius, have been promoting inside the alliance for some weeks. They had been unable to gain US agreement as Trump was demanding much more, including full ownership of Greenland, as the only way to protect American security interests from the threat posed by China and Russia. Some Nato states have been wary of the Arctic sentry concept on the basis that no imminent threat from Russian shipping exists. But the reconnaissance mission by eight Nato states last week – the mission that led to Trump’s objection and the threat to impose tariffs – was designed to assess the real scale of the Russia problem and the feasibility of setting up a monitoring mission. Trump, misinformed, thought the mission was to prepare European defences for a US move to seize Greenland by force. Both the Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, and UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, rang the president to gently disabuse him. Detail has never been Trump’s forte, as demonstrated by his muddling of Greenland with Iceland throughout his Davos speech. In a sign that Denmark does not believe any red line has yet been crossed, the Danish prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, sounded calm about the meeting between Rutte and Trump, saying she had spoken to the Nato chief both before and after the meeting, and adding that the military alliance was “fully aware” of Copenhagen’s position. Rutte – who Trump said had been given licence to negotiate on behalf of Denmark – said the topic of sovereignty did not come up in the discussions. The 1951 agreement between the US and Denmark, updated in 2004, is clear that whatever the US does inside its Greenland bases, the territory they are on remains sovereign Danish land. Although there have been claims that the new framework to which Trump has agreed is modelled more closely on the UK bases in Cyprus, that would be surprising since that land is treated as UK sovereign territory governed by the UK Ministry of Defence. As many as 20,000 Cypriots live on the sovereign UK territory, and have rights to pass property on to family or sell it to a third party. One of the two main outstanding issues is whether, as Trump claims, the deal gives the US access to critical minerals in Greenland. That would not be an issue that a Nato secretary general would be permitted to negotiate, but Trump insisted he had secured the concession in the talks. A second US demand surrounded the planned $175bn Golden Dome defence system, a futuristic weapon designed to shoot down hypersonic, ballistic and advanced cruise missiles and drones even if they are launched from the other side of the world or from space. Trump has repeatedly said full US ownership of Greenland is vital for this project to proceed. No contracts for this project have been issued, but the bulk of the shield would not be land-based but operated by satellites. The main land-based interceptor site considered so far was in New York state. Frederiksen says she is open to discussing this project. The US already has a “space base” in Danish territory, known as Pituffik – formerly Thule airbase – which houses a substantial part of the US military’s global network of missile warning sensors. The 1951 agreement focuses more on ports, but gives the US licence “to construct, install, maintain and operate facilities and equipment including meteorological and communication facilities and equipment”. It also allows “the US to construct such facilities and undertake such activities therein as will not impede the activities of the Kingdom of Denmark”. Partly because Trump primarily operates through broad-brush social media posts, a detailed explanation of why ownership of Greenland was vital for the Golden Dome has never been given in public by the US administration. The treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, said at Davos: “It’s strategically important for his Golden Dome project to protect the US. He [Trump] has invited Canada into that if they want to pay their fair share. It’s important the US has control of Greenland and that will stop any kind of a kinetic war. So why not preempt the problem before it starts?” Instead, the only kinetic war Trump launched was with his European allies. For the moment, at least, there is now a truce.

Jordan used Israeli phone-cracking tool to surveil pro-Gaza activists, report finds

Authorities in Jordan appear to be using an Israeli digital tool to extract information from the mobile phones of activists and protesters who have been critical of Israel and spoken out in support of Gaza, according to a new report by the Citizen Lab. A multiyear investigation found with high confidence that Jordanian security authorities have been using forensic extraction tools made by Cellebrite against members of civil society, including two political activists, a student organizer, and a human rights defender, the researchers said. When Cellebrite’s tool is deployed by authorities who have physical access to a mobile phone, it can extract data including photos, videos, chats, files, saved passwords, location history, wifi history, phone usage records, web history, social media accounts and in some cases data that a user has attempted to delete. The Citizen Lab, which investigates digital threats against civil society, said its forensic investigation of devices that were previously seized by authorities in Jordan, as well as court records shared with researchers, indicate that the use of Cellebrite by authorities “likely violated human rights treaties Jordan has ratified”. Under the international covenant on civil and political rights (ICCPR), Jordan is required to comply with strict limits on the targeting of political dissidents and civil society with surveillance technology. Researchers said they analyzed four mobile phones between January 2024 and June 2025 that belonged to members of Jordanian civil society who had been detained, arrested or interrogated by authorities, and that all had been subjected to forensic extraction using Cellebrite. The names of individuals who were targeted were not released because the individuals feared reprisals. In one case described in Citizen Lab’s report, researchers said they analyzed the iPhone of a political activist whose device was seized after an interrogation by Jordan’s general intelligence department, and that the phone remained in their custody for 35 days. In another case, a student activist refused to provide a passcode to their phone to officers, who then unlocked it using Apple’s Face ID while holding it up to the activist’s face. The person was taken to prison the next day. Upon their release, the activist was given their phone back but found their passcode written on a piece of tape that had been stuck to the back of the phone. An analysis of the device later found that it had been connected to an external device that was attributed to Cellebrite, and was also connected to a cybercrime unit in Amman while it was in the custody of authorities. In a statement to the Guardian, a spokesperson for Cellebrite said that unlike spyware made by companies like NSO Group, the company’s technology is forensic in nature and used to “access private data only in accordance with legal due process or with appropriate consent to aid investigations legally after an event has occurred”. “The company vets potential customers against internal human rights parameters, leading us to historically cease business in jurisdictions where risks were deemed incompatible with our corporate values,” the spokesperson said. The company added: “We take seriously all allegations of potential misuse of our technology in ways that would run counter to both explicit and implied conditions outlined in our end-user agreement. Once solid information is shared with Cellebrite, we review the allegations and take proactive precise steps to investigate each claim in accordance with our ethics and integrity policies.” The Jordanian government did not respond to a request for comment. Cellebrite products have reportedly been used to target members of civil society in other parts of the world, including in Myanmar and Botswana. There have also been indications of its use in Serbia and Belarus.

Venezuela’s Delcy Rodríguez assured US of cooperation before Maduro’s capture

Before the US military snatched Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, earlier this month, Delcy Rodríguez and her powerful brother pledged to cooperate with the Trump administration once the strongman was gone, four sources involved at high levels with the discussions told the Guardian. Rodríguez, who was sworn in on 5 January as acting president to replace Maduro, and her brother Jorge, the head of the national assembly, secretly assured US and Qatari officials through intermediaries ahead of time that they would welcome Maduro’s departure, according to the sources. The communications between US officials from Delcy Rodríguez, who was then Maduro’s vice-president, began in the fall and continued after Trump and Maduro spoke in a crucial phone call in late November, the Guardian has learned, in which Trump insisted that Maduro leave Venezuela. Maduro rejected the demand. By December, one American who was involved told the Guardian that Delcy Rodríguez told the US government she was ready: “Delcy was communicating ‘Maduro needs to go.’ “She said, ‘I’ll work with whatever is the aftermath,’” another person familiar with the messages said. The sources say Marco Rubio, Trump’s secretary of state and national security adviser, at first a skeptic about working with regime elements, came to believe that Delcy Rodríguez’s promises were the best way to prevent chaos once Maduro was gone. The pledge of cooperation by Delcy and Jorge Rodríguez before the Maduro raid has not been previously reported. In October, the Miami Herald reported on abortive negotiations via Qatar, in which Delcy offered to act as a transitional government chief if Maduro stepped down. Reuters reported on Sunday that Diosdado Cabello,the powerful Venezuela interior minister, who controls police and security forces, had also been in discussions with the US at a point months before the Maduro operation. All the sources say there was a fine distinction to the agreement by Delcy Rodríguez: while the Rodríguez family promised to assist the US once Maduro was gone, they did not agree to actively help the US to topple him. The sources insist this was not a coup engineered against Maduro by the Rodríguez siblings. Hours after the raid, Trump appeared to confirm the talks. He told the New York Post that Delcy Rodríguez was onboard. “We’ve spoken to her numerous times, and she understands, she understands.” The Venezuelan government did not respond to emailed questions concerning this story. The White House did not respond to detailed questions. There were many official talks between Trump officials and the Maduro-led Venezuelan government happening on top of the backchannel conversations. Maduro himself met with Ric Grenell, a top Trump aide, just 10 days after Trump’s inauguration, to discuss US prisoners, who were quickly released. Key Trump aides continued official talks with Jorge and Delcy Rodríguez quite often, to coordinate, for example, the bi-weekly flights of Venezuelans deported from the US, according to two sources familiar with the talks. There was a barrage of issues that had to be solved: where the deportation flights would land, the status of Venezuelans imprisoned in El Salvador and political prisoners that could be released. Meanwhile Delcy Rodríguez retained very close personal ties with Qatar, where members of the ruling family considered her a friend, according to sources familiar with their relationship. Qatar, a key ally of the US, donated a $400m luxury jet for Trump’s use in an unprecedented gift from a foreign country to a president. It used the good will it had in Trump’s White House to open more doors for Rodríguez in secret negotiations, two of the sources said. As the Miami Herald reported in October, Rodríguez tried to propose a transition government, led by her, that would rule Venezuela if Maduro agreed to a prearranged retirement in a presumed safe-haven. The plan fell through, and Rodríguez fiercely denounced the story, but key Americans began to think she was far from a two-dimensional dogmatic leader. Those who know her describe a figure with disarming quirks that help her form bonds easily. She drinks champagne, has a private ping-pong coach and a tendency to challenge foreign dignitaries to games. By October, sources say, in secret, even the Americans who were most aggressive against Maduro were open to working with her. One factor was her promise to work with American oil, and her acquaintance with Americans in the oil business. “Delcy is the most committed to working with US oil,” an ally of hers said. The sources said Mauricio Claver-Carone, a former Trump special envoy for Latin America who still had the ear of Marco Rubio despite being out of government, was one key backer. Claver-Carone declined to comment. The main goal for the US was stability once Maduro was out, given the predictions of civil war and chaos. Another of the sources said “the biggest thing was trying to avoid a failed state”. It wasn’t until late fall that Delcy Rodríguez and her brother actually engaged in discussions with the US behind Maduro’s back. Maduro spoke to Trump on the phone in November, and by the next week it was clear Maduro would not leave. For Delcy Rodríguez it was a delicate dance. At the same time they made the offer, the sources say she did not agree to actively betray Maduro. “She feared him,” said one official familiar with the events. When the US attack helicopters flew into Caracas in early January, Delcy Rodríguez was nowhere to be found. Rumors spread that she had fled to Moscow, but two sources say she was on Margarita Island, a Venezuelan vacation spot.