Trump confirms he recently spoke with Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro

Donald Trump confirmed on Sunday that he had spoken with Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, but he did not provide details on what the two leaders discussed.“I don’t want to comment on it. The answer is yes,” the US president said when asked if he had spoken with Maduro. He was speaking to reporters onboard Air Force One.The New York Times first reported Trump had spoken with Maduro earlier this month and discussed a possible meeting between them in the United States.“I wouldn’t say it went well or badly. It was a phone call,” Trump said regarding the conversation.The revelation of the phone call comes as Trump continues to use bellicose rhetoric regarding Venezuela, while also entertaining the possibility of diplomacy.On Saturday, Trump said the airspace above and surrounding Venezuela should be considered “closed in its entirety” but gave no further details, stirring anxiety and confusion in Caracas as his administration ramps up pressure on Maduro’s government.When asked whether his airspace comments meant strikes against Venezuela were imminent, Trump said: “Don’t read anything into it.“The Trump administration has been weighing Venezuela-related options to combat what it has portrayed as Maduro’s role in supplying illegal drugs that have killed Americans. The socialist Venezuelan president has denied having any links to the illegal drug trade.Reuters has reported the options under US consideration include an attempt to overthrow Maduro, and that the US military is poised for a new phase of operations after a massive military buildup in the Caribbean and nearly three months of strikes on suspected drug boats off Venezuela’s coast.Human rights groups have condemned the strikes as illegal extrajudicial killings of civilians, and some US allies have expressed growing concerns that Washington may be violating international law.Trump said he would look into whether the US military had carried out a second strike in the Caribbean that killed survivors during a September operation, adding he would not have wanted such a strike.US defense secretary Pete Hegseth has said the strikes are lawful but are intended to be “lethal”.Trump told military service members last week the US would “very soon” begin land operations to stop suspected Venezuelan drug traffickers.Maduro and senior members of his administration have not commented on the call. Asked about it on Sunday, Jorge Rodríguez, the head of Venezuela’s national assembly, said the call was not the topic of his press conference, where he announced a lawmaker investigation into US boat strikes in the Caribbean.