The world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, photographed here during NATO exercises in September, has been deployed in an anti-drug smuggling mission in the Caribbean Sea. JONATHAN KLEIN / AFP
United States (US) President Donald Trump suggested Sunday, November 16, that future talks with Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro could be on the table, as a regional US military buildup has whipped up tensions between the nations. The US president spoke after Washington further upped the ante by announcing plans to designate as a terrorist group a cartel that it claims Maduro runs.
"We may be having some discussions with Maduro, and we'll see how that turns out," Trump told reporters in Florida, adding: "They would like to talk." Pressed for more details, he replied: "Venezuela would like to talk. What does it mean? You tell me, I don't know (...) I'd talk to anybody."
Earlier Sunday, the US State Department said it would classify Cartel de los Soles (Cartel of the Suns), which it claims is headed by Maduro, as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO). "Cartel de los Soles by and with other designated FTOs including Tren de Aragua and the Sinaloa Cartel are responsible for terrorist violence throughout our hemisphere as well as for trafficking drugs into the United States and Europe," Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement.
