Jan 5 (Reuters) – Venezuela’s acting president on Sunday offered to collaborate with the United States on an agenda focused on “shared development”, striking a conciliatory tone for the first time since U.S. 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 prioritizing a move towards respectful relations with the United States, having earlier criticized 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.
Trump told reporters on Sunday that he could order another strike if Venezuela does not cooperate with U.S. efforts to open up its oil industry and stop drug trafficking.
The remarks by Trump came on the eve of Maduro’s scheduled appearance on Monday before a federal judge in New York. Maduro was detained during a U.S. military raid on Saturday in Caracas that drew international concern and plunged Venezuela into uncertainty.
Trump administration officials have portrayed the 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 nationalize U.S. oil interests decades ago.
‘WE’RE IN CHARGE’
“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.
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 U.S. forces and who is accused of ordering kidnappings and murders.
Maduro has denied wrongdoing, and it could be several months before he stands trial.
(Reporting by Reuters bureaux worldwide; Writing by Andy Sullivan; Editing by Sergio Non and Lincoln Feast.)
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