Donald Trump has reportedly threatened Nicolas Maduro with regime change in a phone call.
The US has been rehearsing airstrikes it plans to launch in Venezuela in latest weeks, the Wall Road Journal (WSJ) reported on Saturday, citing a protection official and flight-tracking information.
President Donald Trump has accused the Venezuelan authorities of working “narcoterrorist” cartels and on Saturday introduced that the nation’s airspace can be closed to “all airlines, pilots, drug dealers, and human traffickers.”
The menace got here amid a buildup of US naval forces within the Caribbean Sea, the place, beneath Trump’s orders, greater than 20 alleged drug-smuggling vessels have been struck since September.
In response to the WSJ, Trump instructed Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro throughout final week’s secret phone call that he would contemplate ousting him until he stepped down.
Whereas neither facet has confirmed that the dialog befell, Trump has beforehand denied looking for to topple Maduro by power. In August, the US elevated the bounty for Maduro’s arrest to $50 million.
On Saturday, the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry rejected the menace in opposition to its plane as “colonialist” aggression, unlawful beneath worldwide legislation. Maduro has positioned the military on excessive alert and held a number of drills, vowing to repel any invasion.
The Venezuelan authorities has denied allegations of aiding cartels and argued that Trump is utilizing a crackdown on drug trafficking as a pretext for regime change.
