Maduro open to US talks on drug trafficking, but silent on CIA strike
[January 02, 2026]
By REGINA GARCIA CANO
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela is open to negotiating an agreement
with the United States to combat drug trafficking, the South American
country’s President Nicolás Maduro said in a pretaped interview aired
Thursday on state television, but he declined to comment on a CIA-led
strike last week at a Venezuelan docking area that the Trump
administration believed was used by cartels.
Maduro, in an interview with Spanish journalist Ignacio Ramonet,
reiterated that the U.S. wants to force a government change in Venezuela
and gain access to its vast oil reserves through the monthslong pressure
campaign that began with a massive military deployment to the Caribbean
Sea in August.
“What are they seeking? It is clear that they seek to impose themselves
through threats, intimidation and force,” Maduro said, later adding that
it is time for both nations to “start talking seriously, with data in
hand.”
“The U.S. government knows, because we’ve told many of their
spokespeople, that if they want to seriously discuss an agreement to
combat drug trafficking, we’re ready,” he said. “If they want oil,
Venezuela is ready for U.S. investment, like with Chevron, whenever they
want it, wherever they want it and however they want it.”
Chevron Corp. is the only major oil company exporting Venezuelan crude
to the U.S. Venezuela has the world’s largest proven oil reserves.
The interview was taped on New Year’s Eve, the same day the U.S.
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 numbers
announced by the Trump administration. Venezuelans are among the
victims.
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President Donald Trump has justified the attacks as a necessary
escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States and
asserted that the U.S. 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.
Meanwhile, the CIA was behind a drone strike last week at a docking
area believed to have been used by Venezuelan drug cartels,
according to two people familiar with details of the operation who
requested anonymity to discuss the classified matter. It was the
first known direct operation on Venezuelan soil since the boat
strikes began, a significant escalation in the administration’s
pressure campaign on Maduro, who has been charged with narco-terrorism
in the U.S.
Asked about the operation on Venezuelan soil, Maduro said he could
“talk about it in a few days.”
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Associated Press writer Aamer Madhani contributed to this report
from Washington.
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