The Trump administration is negotiating an agreement with Venezuela that could provide a legal basis for a long-term U.S. military presence in the country, U.S. officials said. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is beginning talks on the arrangement, according to the report.
The negotiations could mark a new phase in relations between the two countries, which have long been adversaries, as they consider moving toward military cooperation. Venezuelan officials have drawn closer to President Donald Trump’s administration since U.S. forces carried out a nighttime assault in January, killing dozens of people and taking Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro to a prison in New York.
Speaking in Washington on Monday, Trump described the episode as “our conquest of Venezuela.”
The talks come amid an increasingly military-focused U.S. approach to Latin America. Trump and senior aides have ordered operations across the region, including joint actions with forces in Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela. The U.S. military has also conducted numerous deadly strikes on civilian boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, actions that legal experts have described as extrajudicial killings.
The administration has strengthened security ties with several right-wing governments in the region and maintains troops and military assets at bases across Central and South America.
Sources: The New York Times World.