Monday 05/January/2026 – 10:03 AM
The interim president of Venezuela has offered to cooperate with the United States within an agenda based on common development, adopting a conciliatory tone for the first time since the arrest of the country’s president, Nicolas Maduro, by American forces, according to Reuters.
US attack on Venezuela
Interim President Delcy Rodriguez said, in a statement published on social media, that her government gives priority to moving towards relations based on mutual respect with the United States, after she previously criticized the raid that took place on Saturday, describing it as an illegal seizure of the country’s national resources.
Rodriguez added: We call on the American government to cooperate with us on a partnership agenda directed towards common development, and within the framework of international law, in a way that enhances sustainable societal coexistence. President Donald Trump, our peoples, and our region deserve peace and dialogue, not war.
Rodriguez is also Oil Minister and has long been considered the most pragmatic figure within Maduro’s inner circle.
For his part, US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that he may order another military strike if Venezuela does not cooperate with American efforts to open the country’s oil sector and stop drug smuggling.
Maduro was detained during a US military raid in Caracas on Saturday, which has sparked international concern and thrown Venezuela into a state of uncertainty.
Trump administration officials portrayed the arrest as a law enforcement measure aimed at holding Maduro accountable for criminal charges brought against him in 2020.
But Trump also suggested there were other factors behind the operation, explaining that the raid was triggered in part by the influx of Venezuelan migrants into the United States, and by Venezuela’s decision, decades ago, to nationalize American oil interests.
Trump said on Air Force One during his return to Washington from Florida: We are taking back what they stole, we are the ones who are controlling the situation.
He added that oil companies will return to Venezuela to rebuild its oil sector, stressing that they will spend billions of dollars to extract oil.
Maduro, 63, is accused of providing support to major drug trafficking groups, including the Sinaloa Cartel and the Tren de Aragua cartel.
Prosecutors say he oversaw cocaine smuggling routes, used the military to protect shipments, harbored violent criminal groups, and used presidential facilities to transport drugs.
These charges were first brought in 2020, and were updated on Saturday to include his wife, Celia Flores, who was also arrested by US forces and faces charges of ordering kidnappings and murders.
