Venezuela’s Maduro wrote to Trump after US strike on alleged drug boat
By Stefano Pozzebon, CNN
(CNN) — Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro wrote to US President Donald Trump days after a US strike on an alleged drug boat and offered to engage in direct talks with special envoy Richard Grenell.
In his letter, shared on Telegram by Venezuela’s Vice President Delcy Rodriguez and confirmed to CNN by a US source with knowledge of the matter, Maduro denies being involved in narco-trafficking – referring to the allegations as “fake news, propagated through various media channels” – and offers to engage in “a direct and frank conversation with your special envoy.”
The letter, signed by Maduro, is dated September 6, four days after a US strike killed 11 Venezuelans on a boat the US claims was being used to transport drugs.
The US conducted more strikes against speedboats last week, raising the total death toll to more than a dozen alleged drug traffickers, though the White House has not provided conclusive proof or intelligence data confirming the people killed were criminals.
Trump on Sunday declined to confirm he had received Maduro’s letter, telling reporters, “We’ll see what happens with Venezuela.”
A representative for Grenell and a spokesperson for the Venezuelan government both declined to comment on the letter.
The Trump administration has accused Maduro of being one of the world’s largest narco-traffickers and of working with cartels to flood the US with fentanyl-laced cocaine. In August, it doubled its reward for his arrest to $50 million.
Increasing tensions between the two countries have seen the US deploy warships to the region on what it says is a mission to combat drug trafficking, but Maduro has claimed it is an effort at regime change.
Venezuela has responded by launching military exercises and putting on display its Russian-built fighter jets in a show of force. It also claims to have mobilized millions of militiamen.
In his letter, Maduro says he is sending the US what he refers to as “compelling data on drug production and drug trafficking … that demonstrates that Venezuela is a territory free of drug production.”
“I respectfully invite you, President, to promote peace through constructive dialogue and mutual understanding throughout the hemisphere,” Maduro says in the letter.
Grenell, a former US ambassador to Germany, has met with Maduro several times this year to secure the release of US citizens wrongfully detained in Venezuela in exchange for hundreds of Venezuelan migrants the White House had previously sent to El Salvador.
On Tuesday, Grenell openly called for a de-escalation in the confrontation saying he believed the US and Venezuela “can still have a deal” to avoid war.
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