CARACAS: Venezuela's acting president offered on Sunday to collaborate with the United States on an agenda focused on "shared development", striking a conciliatory tone for the first time since US forces captured the oil-rich nation's president, Nicolas Maduro. In a statement posted on social media, Acting President Delcy Rodriguez said her government was prioritising a move towards respectful relations with the United States, having earlier criticised the raid on Saturday as an illegal grab for the country's national resources.
"We invite the US government to collaborate with us on an agenda of cooperation oriented towards shared development within the framework of international law to strengthen lasting community coexistence," Rodriguez said. "President Donald Trump, our peoples and our region deserve peace and dialogue, not war." Rodriguez, who also serves as oil minister, has long been considered the most pragmatic member of Maduro's inner circle and Trump had said she was willing to work with the US.
Publicly, however, she and other officials had called the detentions of Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores a kidnapping and said Maduro remains the nation's legitimate leader. Trump told reporters on Sunday that he could order another strike if Venezuela does not cooperate with US efforts to open up its oil industry and stop drug trafficking. Trump also threatened military action in Colombia and Mexico and said Cuba's communist regime "looks like it's ready to fall" on its own. The Colombian and Mexican embassies in Washington did not immediately return requests for comment.
Rodriguez's statement came on the eve of Maduro's scheduled appearance before a federal judge in New York. Trump administration officials have portrayed his seizure as a law-enforcement action to hold Maduro accountable for criminal charges filed in 2020 that accuse him of narco-terrorism conspiracy. But Trump has also said other factors were at play, saying the raid was prompted in part by an influx of Venezuelan immigrants to the United States and the country's decision to nationalise US oil interests decades ago.
"We're taking back what they stole," he said aboard Air Force One as he returned on Sunday to Washington from Florida. "We're in charge." Oil companies will return to Venezuela and rebuild the country's petroleum industry, Trump said. "They're going to spend billions of dollars and they're going to take the oil out of the ground," he said. Global oil prices edged up in choppy trade as investors considered the implications of US military action in Venezuela, while stock markets rose in Asia.
Maduro, 63, faces charges that accuse him of providing support to major drug trafficking groups, such as the Sinaloa Cartel and the Tren de Aragua gang. Prosecutors say he directed cocaine trafficking routes, used the military to protect shipments, sheltered violent trafficking groups and used presidential facilities to move drugs. The charges, first filed in 2020, were updated on Saturday to include his wife, Cilia Flores, who was also captured by US forces and who is accused of ordering kidnappings and murders. Maduro has denied wrongdoing, and it could be several months before he stands trial.
Though Maduro has few allies on the world stage, many countries have questioned the legality of seizing a foreign head of state and called on the US to respect international law. The UN Security Council plans to meet on Monday to discuss the US attack, which Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described as a dangerous precedent. China repeated its criticisms of the US actions, saying they were in violation of international law and that Washington should release Maduro and his wife. The attack has also raised questions in Washington, where opposition Democrats say they were misled by the administration about its Venezuela policy. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was due to brief top lawmakers on Capitol Hill later on Monday. — Reuters
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