The United States has held secret talks with Venezuela's interior minister Diosdado Cabello before the operation against President Nicolas Maduro, Reuters reports.
The Americans contacted Cabello several months before the operation and continue to maintain contact. The Venezuelan minister has maintained contact with the White House both directly and through intermediaries, a source said.
Washington has urged the official to refrain from using armed force against the opposition. According to the publication, Cabello was not detained during the operation, although his name appears in the indictment for drug trafficking.
However, if Cabello decides to use forces under his control, this could "cause chaos" that US President Donald Trump wants to avoid and threaten the authority of interim President Delcy Rodriguez, the report states.
On January 3, at the direction of the US president, US troops captured Maduro and his wife in Venezuela and took them to New York, where a court charged the Venezuelan politician with narco-terrorism.
Venezuelan authorities called the operation a military attack. According to the country's Ministry of the Interior, 100 people were killed in the US attack. The Washington Post previously reported that US authorities estimated that approximately 75 people were killed in the attack on Caracas.
Trump said that the US was now working with the current Venezuelan President Delcy Rodriguez and the remnants of the Maduro regime to prevent Venezuela from turning into Iraq.
Rodriguez initially condemned the US actions, calling them “barbaric“. She later took a “more conciliatory“ position, according to CNN, proposing a program of cooperation with the US. Trump also expressed support for Rodriguez. On January 15, she met with CIA Director John Ratcliffe in Caracas.
They discussed intelligence cooperation, economic stability, and the need for Venezuela to shed its reputation as a “safe haven for America's adversaries, particularly drug traffickers“.