Trump says Maduro's days as Venezuela's president are numbered
Photo: Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro (Getty Images)
US President Donald Trump said that Nicolás Maduro’s days as Venezuela’s president are coming to an end, though he expressed doubts that the United States would carry out military strikes against the country, according to CBS News.
US President Donald Trump said that Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro’s days in power are coming to an end, though he expressed skepticism about the possibility of US military action against the country.
When asked by a reporter whether Maduro’s time as president was over, Trump replied:
"I’d say yes. I think so, yes."
In the same interview, he was asked whether the US planned to strike Venezuela, given that the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, is heading toward the Caribbean.
"I doubt it. I don't think so. But they've been treating us very badly, not only on drugs, they've dumped hundreds of thousands of people into our country that we didn't want, people from prisons, they emptied their prisons into our company, country. They also, if you take a look, they emptied their mental institutions and their insane asylums into the United States of America, 'cause Joe Biden was the worst president in the history of our country," Trump said.
Trump's stance on Maduro
Back in 2020, during Trump’s first term, the US Department of Justice charged Nicolás Maduro with drug trafficking, accusing him of cooperating with cartels that smuggled cocaine, fentanyl, and gang members into the United States.
Rising tensions between US and Venezuela
The US military has been fortifying and expanding Roosevelt Roads Air Base in Puerto Rico, which was closed about two decades ago, a move analysts view as possible preparation for operations against Venezuela.
Roosevelt Roads was once one of the largest US Navy bases in the world, offering strategic access to almost the entire Caribbean basin. Renovations of taxiways suggest the facility may soon accommodate a large number of fighter jets and cargo aircraft for intensive operations.
Similar construction is underway on Saint Croix in the US Virgin Islands, where new military facilities are being built at Henry E. Rohlsen Airport.
In August, Trump signed a classified directive authorizing direct military operations against Latin American drug cartels, which the US had designated as foreign terrorist organizations.
Washington has offered a $50 million reward for Maduro’s capture. Currently, several US Navy ships and roughly 4,500 service members are stationed in the southern Caribbean Sea.
