US president signals potential talks with Venezuela’s Maduro

WASHINGTON, United States (MNTV) – US President Donald Trump has suggested his administration may enter discussions with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, even as Washington escalates military operations in the Caribbean and labels a major Venezuelan network a terrorist organization.

Speaking to reporters in Florida, Trump said, “We may be having some discussions with Maduro… They would like to talk.”

His remarks come amid a major US naval buildup that includes the USS Gerald Ford—one of the world’s largest aircraft carriers—along with Marines, warships, and surveillance aircraft.

The shift in tone followed the designation of Venezuela’s Cartel de los Soles as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), a move Trump said authorizes the US to target assets linked to Maduro’s government.

At the same time, US forces have stepped up maritime interdiction operations, conducting at least 21 strikes in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific against vessels allegedly tied to drug trafficking.

Trump said he instructed officials including Secretary of State Marco Rubio to brief Congress on efforts to halt narcotics movements, adding, “We’re not letting drugs come through Mexico, we’re not letting them come through Venezuela.”

US Southern Command says the operations are part of a directive from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to dismantle criminal networks deemed a threat to US national security.

The military campaign began in September and intensified sharply by late October, creating a tense regional dynamic in which tentative diplomatic signals coexist with overt displays of US force.