As Washington arms itself in the Caribbean, Maduro seeks support from allies and warns of US aggression. A Republican senator says the US offered Maduro to flee.
Amid the tense situation between the US and Venezuela, US President Donald Trump said he had spoken by phone with his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro. Trump confirmed this to journalists aboard the presidential plane Air Force One on Sunday.
Maduro's call for help
Trump did not reveal details of his conversation with Maduro. "I wouldn't say it went well or badly. It was a phone call" - this is how he answered journalists' questions about whether a possible meeting of the heads of state or conditions for an amnesty for Maduro had been discussed.
Meanwhile, Nicolas Maduro turned to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), of which Venezuela is a member, for help. In a letter to OPEC, Maduro called on member states to "stop this aggression, which is being prepared with increasing force". Washington is trying "with the help of military force to appropriate Venezuela's huge oil reserves, which are the largest in the world", Maduro continued in his letter. He also pointed out that this threatens the stability of Venezuelan oil production and the international oil market.
OPEC has twelve member states, including Saudi Arabia, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates. Maduro also addressed the letter to the expanded OPEC+ cartel, which also includes other major producers such as Russia.
The United States offers Maduro to flee
On Saturday, the tension between Washington and Caracas, which has been going on for weeks, reached its peak after Trump declared the airspace over the South American country to be "closed".
In addition, Republican Senator Marquan Mullin reported that Washington had given Venezuelan President Maduro the opportunity to leave his country. "By the way, we gave Maduro the opportunity to leave," the senator from Oklahoma told the American television channel CNN. "We told him he could go to Russia or to some other country."
When asked if Trump was planning to attack Venezuela, the Republican senator replied: "No, he clearly stated that we will not send troops to Venezuela". Mullin emphasized that with its actions, Washington is rather trying to protect its own shores.