Maduro urges Trump to abandon ‘illegal warmongering’ and start ‘serious talks’

Original article by Tom Phillips in Rio de Janeiro

The Venezuelan leader, Nicolás Maduro, has urged Donald Trump to abandon his “illegal warmongering” and begin “serious talks” with his administration as mystery continued to surround a purported pre-Christmas CIA airstrike on the South American country.

Speaking during an hour-long TV interview, Maduro declined to confirm reports of the apparent US attack, which would be the first on Venezuelan soil since Trump began his five-month campaign of military pressure in August.

“This could be something we talk about in a few days,” Maduro told the Spanish journalist Ignacio Ramonet as the Venezuelan leader drove through the streets of Caracas in an apparent attempt to project serenity in the face of US pressure.

At one point during what Maduro called the “pod car” broadcast, he drove the silver SUV past his childhood home and the church where his baptism and first communion were held. “Caracas looks so beautiful,” Maduro declared, urging US voters to reflect on whether they wanted Trump to lead them into a South American version of the Iraq war.

Maduro rejected US claims justifying Trump’s campaign that he was the head of a “narco-terrorist” crime organisation flooding the US with drugs. He said he believed Washington’s true objective was to seize control of Venezuelan resources including oil, gold and rare-earth metals.

“Since they can’t accuse me or accuse Venezuela of having weapons of mass destruction … since they can’t accuse us of having nuclear missiles … or chemical weapons … they have invented a claim that the US knows is as false as the claim about weapons of mass destruction that led them into a forever war,” Maduro said. “I believe that we need to set all this aside and start serious talks.

“The US government knows … that if they want to seriously discuss an agreement to combat drug trafficking, we’re ready. If they want oil, Venezuela is ready for US investment, like with Chevron, whenever they want it, wherever they want it and however they want it.”

The New York Times reported last month that Maduro had responded to Trump’s pressure campaign by regularly sleeping in different locations and switching mobile phones so as to avoid being captured by US special forces or killed in an aerial attack.

Asked what impact Trump’s pressure campaign was having on his physical and emotional state, however, Maduro struck a nonchalant tone. “I have a foolproof bunker: almighty God,” he replied. “I have entrusted Venezuela to our Lord Jesus Christ, the King of Kings.”

Maduro’s pre-recorded interview came after Trump said on Monday that the US had hit a docking facility that served Venezuelan drug trafficking boats last month. US media reports have claimed the CIA was behind the drone strike.

If confirmed, the first strike on land would mark a new phase in a campaign that has involved the deployment of a huge US naval fleet, airstrikes on alleged drug traffickers and a “total blockade” of sanctioned oil tankers, the seizure of two vessels and the pursuit of a third.

Maduro said he had not spoken to Trump since a 10-minute conversation on 21 November, which he called cordial and respectful. “That conversation was enjoyable even, but since then the evolution has not been enjoyable,” he said, calling for “dialogue and diplomacy” between Washington and Caracas.

The interview was recorded on New Year’s Eve, the same day the US military announced strikes against five alleged drug-smuggling boats. The latest attacks bring the total number of known boat strikes to 35 and the number of people killed to at least 115, according to Trump administration figures. Venezuelans are among the victims.

Trump has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the US and asserted that Washington is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels. The strikes began off Venezuela’s Caribbean coast and later expanded to the eastern Pacific Ocean.