President Donald Trump said Nov. 17 that he would be open to holding talks with Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro but refused to rule out sending U.S. troops into Venezuela amid tensions over U.S. anti-narcotics operations in the Caribbean.
When asked at a press conference whether he would rule out the possibility of sending U.S. ground troops into Venezuela, Trump replied: “No, I don’t rule out that. I don’t rule out anything.”
When pressed on whether there was anything Maduro could say to gain his support, Trump did not give a direct response but said he thinks the Venezuelan leader has caused “tremendous damage” to the United States, citing the illegal migration of Venezuelans to the United States and illegal drug trafficking.
“It’s hard to say that, the question is a little bit tricky,” Trump said. “He has not been good to the United States, so we’ll see what happens. At a certain period of time, I’d be talking to him.”
Maduro has repeatedly denied allegations of illegal drug trafficking.
“We may be having some discussions with Maduro, and we’ll see how that turns out,” he told reporters in Florida, adding that the Venezuelan regime had requested the talks.
Trump said the designation would allow Washington to target Maduro’s assets and infrastructure in Venezuela but noted there were no immediate plans to do so.
“It allows us to do that but we haven’t said we’re going to do that,” the president said.