CaliToday (22/9/2025): Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has refuted U.S. allegations that he is a drug trafficker and has offered to hold a dialogue with President Donald Trump, according to a letter released by Caracas on Sunday, as military tensions between the two nations continue to escalate.
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| Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro |
The letter, addressed to President Trump, was dated September 6. It was sent just days after the United States deployed warships off the Venezuelan coast and conducted the first of several lethal strikes on Venezuelan-based boats that Washington alleged were carrying narcotics.
That initial strike killed 11 people. Two subsequent attacks have occurred since Maduro's letter and its call for peace were dispatched.
In the text, Maduro whose July 2024 re-election was widely condemned as fraudulent by the opposition and much of the international community rejected the "absolutely false" U.S. accusations that he leads a narco-trafficking cartel.
"This is the worst fake news ever launched against our country in an escalation of armed conflict that could cause devastating damage to the entire continent," the letter stated.
Maduro urged Trump to "preserve peace through dialogue and understanding throughout the hemisphere."
"Mr. President, I hope that together we can defeat the fake news that is clouding what should be a historic and peaceful relationship."
Maduro went on to assert that Venezuela is a "drug-free" nation and claimed that only 5% of the narcotics produced in neighboring Colombia are smuggled into Venezuelan territory. "A very notable fact is that this year we have neutralized and destroyed more than 70% of the few who have sought to cross the vast border of more than 2,200 kilometers (1,300 miles) that we share with Colombia," he wrote.
Ongoing Operations
Since Maduro's letter was sent, U.S. forces in the Caribbean have attacked two more boats alleged to be carrying drugs one off the coast of Venezuela and another further north, off the coast of the Dominican Republic.
The latest of these strikes, which killed three people, was first announced by President Trump himself on Friday without specifying the location. It was confirmed on Sunday by the Dominican Republic's anti-drug agency and the U.S. Embassy there.
The large-scale U.S. military deployment has been widely condemned in Latin America, fueling fears that the United States is planning to attack Venezuela. The operation includes eight warships and a nuclear-powered submarine sent to the Southern Caribbean Sea, along with 10 fighter jets dispatched to nearby Puerto Rico.
The U.S. military's actions have also sparked a debate about the legality of the killings, as drug trafficking itself is not a capital crime under U.S. law. Furthermore, the U.S. is attacking and destroying the boats rather than seizing them and their crews, which is the standard procedure in counter-narcotics operations.
On Friday, Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez described the U.S. operation as an "undeclared war."
