Trump Shocks Officials After Expressing Openness In Meeting Venezuelan President Maduro

U.S. President Donald Trump recently expressed his openness in meeting Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, sparking speculations that the sweeping statement arose out of frustration owing to his administration’s inability to oust Maduro through sanctions and diplomacy.

“I would maybe think about that. ... Maduro would like to meet. And I’m never opposed to meetings,” said Trump, while speaking to an online media outlet on Friday. “I always say, you lose very little with meetings. But at this moment, I’ve turned them down,” he added.

The statements came as a stark contrast to his highly controversial “maximum pressure” campaign -- targeted at expelling Maduro from his post as president. If at all a meeting transpires between Trump and Maduro, a lot of efforts invested in supporting Guaido will go in vain.

It also shed light on Trump’s second thoughts about Guaido, whom he previously decided to recognize as Venezuela’s legitimate leader. This could be traced to Guaido’s repeated failure in wresting control of the Venezuelan government despite the backing of the United States and a host of other counties.

Trump was also quizzed about whether he harbored any feelings of regret over his decision to follow his former national security adviser John Bolton's advice on Guaidó. To which, Trump expressed his stance, rather ambiguously. “Not particularly,” said Trump to Axiom. “I could have lived with it or without it, but I was very firmly against what's going on in Venezuela.”

This isn’t a first of sorts. Trump had shown keen interest in meeting the Venezuelan president in 2018. It is believed that Maduro reached out to the White House and the state department of the U.S. at least twice in a row in 2017 and expressed his desire to meet Trump.

While nothing materialized on that front, the United States upped the pressure to push Maduro out of office. Since January 2019, the United States has officially recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido as Venezuela’s interim president after concluding that Maduro’s 2018 election was “rigged.”

Despite stiff resistance from the United States, Maduro survived the storm and retained his power with the support of its military and countries like Cuba, China, Russia and Iran.