Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro has said that he is willing to hold face-to-face talks with representatives of the Trump administration as US pressure on him grows.
Maduro made the comment hours after US President Donald Trump said he had not ruled out deploying ground forces to the South American country.
The Trump administration has accused Maduro - whose re-election last year was dismissed as rigged by many countries - of being the leader of a drugs cartel.
Maduro has denied the allegation and accuses the US of trying to incite a war to gain control of Venezuela's oil reserves.
Since Trump was sworn in to a second term in office in January, the US government has been increasing its pressure on Maduro.
It has doubled the reward it offers for information leading to his capture to $50 million and in August launched a counternarcotics operation targeting boats it accuses of transporting drugs from Venezuela to the US.
More than 80 people have been killed in the US strikes on suspected vessels since, most of them in the Caribbean as well as some in the Pacific. According to US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, the aim of Operation Southern Spear is to remove narcoterrorists from the Western Hemisphere.
But legal experts have questioned the legality of the strikes, pointing out that the US has provided no evidence that the boats were carrying drugs and it is unclear how much of an impact the strikes are having on the wider flow of drugs, a significant portion of which cross the land border between Mexico and the US.
Trump's military posturing, which includes the deployment of the USS Gerald Ford, has led to speculation that the US's true goal may be to remove Maduro from power.
Publicly, Trump has fluctuated in his responses to questions about military action in Venezuela, suggesting both that a confrontation is not likely while also keeping the option open.
On the other hand, Maduro has attempted to connect with the US public, advocating for peace and a willingness to engage in dialogue — efforts uncertain within the realm of US-Venezuela relations.
Past negotiations between the Venezuelan opposition and the Maduro government have been unsuccessful. Entities like Norway and the Vatican have aimed to mediate, but those talks eventually collapsed, underscoring the entrenched divisions and ongoing crisis affecting Venezuela.
Opposition leader María Corina Machado continues to rally Venezuelans against Maduro, calling for unity to depose his regime, characterizing it as a criminal structure detrimental to the country's future.
