High US commander makes shock go to to Venezuela after Maduro’s seize

[ad_1] The highest commander overseeing US forces in Latin America, Normal Francis Donovan, and senior Pentagon official Joseph Humire made a shock go to to Venezuela on Wednesday for safety talks, US officers mentioned.

The journey is the primary by a US navy delegation since US forces captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in an audacious raid final month and whisked him to New York to face drug‑trafficking fees. The go to was first reported by Reuters.

Venezuela’s authorities mentioned the US navy delegation met interim president Delcy Rodríguez, defence minister Vladimir Padrino and inside minister Diosdado Cabello. The 2 sides agreed to work collectively to fight drug-trafficking, terrorism and migration, it added.

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Each Padrino and Cabello face indictments associated to drug trafficking in the US.

The US navy’s go to follows a visit final week by US Secretary of Power Chris Wright to Caracas.

Collectively, the 2 journeys spotlight President Donald Trump’s efforts to make use of navy may and vitality coverage to push Venezuela to hold out sweeping reforms.

Diplomacy, the popular path Washington has mentioned it should handle Venezuela’s oil enterprise indefinitely and maintains a strong naval presence within the Caribbean, the place the US navy is blowing up suspected drug boats and dealing with the Coast Guard to grab Venezuela‑linked oil tankers.

Venezuela’s authorities emphasised diplomacy as the popular path for ties with Washington, which needs to see Caracas within the quick time period reduce ties with US adversaries and open itself to US companies. Venezuela sits on the world’s largest crude oil reserves.

“The assembly reaffirms that diplomacy ought to be the mechanism for resolving variations and addressing problems with bilateral and regional pursuits,” Venezuela’s Communications Minister Miguel Angel Perez mentioned in a put up on X.

The US navy’s Southern Command mentioned Donovan and Humire have been joined within the talks by Laura Dogu, the brand new US envoy to the South American nation.

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© France 24 “Discussions centered on the safety surroundings, steps to make sure the implementation of President Donald Trump’s three‑part plan – notably the stabilisation of Venezuela – and the significance of shared safety throughout the Western Hemisphere,” Southern Command mentioned in a put up on X.

Dogu, in a separate put up by the US embassy, referred to as it a historic day within the effort to “advance the target of a Venezuela aligned with the US.”

Visits to Caracas by excessive‑rating US officers have been just about nonexistent for a few years, because the bilateral relationship with former President Hugo Chávez after which Maduro was severely strained.

For Donovan, it was his inaugural journey to Latin America as the top of Southern Command, a put up he assumed on 5 February. Earlier than that, he helped lead the US navy’s particular operations all over the world because the No. 2 at Particular Operations Command.