- Trump
gave Maduro ultimatum to resign immediately. - Maduro
rejected demand in recent phone call. - Maduro
requested global amnesty for himself.
Neither the US nor Venezuelan government have revealed any
information of the issues covered during the very unusual discussion, which is
understood to have transpired on 21 November.
But sources informed the Miami Herald the US president had
issued a “blunt message” to his South American counterpart, who is the target
of a four-month pressure campaign in which Trump has ordered a large naval
deployment near Venezuela’s northern coast.
“You can save yourself and those closest to you, but you
must leave the country now,”
Trump reportedly said, offering safe passage for Maduro, his
wife and his son “only if he agreed to resign right away”.
However, Venezuela’s president reportedly refused to stand
down immediately and allegedly issued a number of counter-demands, including
worldwide immunity from prosecution and being permitted to leave political
leadership but preserve control of the armed forces.
The newspaper stated there had been no additional direct
contact between Trump and Maduro, although Maduro reportedly requested a second
call last weekend after Trump declared Venezuela’s airspace “closed in its
entirety”.
Despite the leaked assertion that Trump had given
Maduro an ultimatum, many analysts are doubtful the US president plans to
follow such threats up with large-scale military action.
“Maduro and most of his cohorts view the US military
threats as a bluff,”
a source with regular contact with top Venezuela officials
told the Wall Street Journal last month.
Since his election in 2013, the Venezuelan leader has
survived a succession of crises, including Trump’s first-term “maximum
pressure” campaign, several rounds of mass protests, a historic economic
meltdown, a 2018 assassination attempt and apparent defeat in last year’s
presidential election, which Maduro is widely believed to have lost to the
former diplomat Edmundo González.
On Sunday, the Wall Street Journal urged Trump’s administration
to continue ramping up the pressure on Venezuela and said it believed
“deposing
Maduro is in the US national interest”.
Its editorial board said:
“If Maduro refuses to leave, and Trump shrinks from
acting to depose him, Trump and the credibility of the US will be the losers.”
In an attempt to find a peaceful solution, Colombia’s
president, Gustavo Petro, recommended the Colombian city of Cartagena as a
probable venue for negotiations between Maduro’s dictatorship and Venezuela’s
opposition.
How have Venezuelan opposition leaders responded to reports
of the ultimatum?
Venezuelan opposition leaders have responded with
conservative sanguinity but remain skeptical regarding President Donald Trump’s
reported claim to Nicolás Maduro. crucial opposition numbers, including Nobel
Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado, interpret Trump’s pressure
especially the demand for Maduro to abdicate incontinently as a possible sign
of despair but misdoubt it’ll lead to a nippy exit due to Maduro’s historically
settled control and pious military support.
Opposition leaders emphasize that meaningful transnational
pressure and coordinated action are demanded to force Maduro from power,
prompting abettors in the U.S. and beyond to escalate sweats beyond
rhetoric.
They also remain concerned about Maduro’s demands for
sweeping global remittances and retention of military command, viewing these as
stalling tactics.
