Trump says U.S. may have discussions with Maduro as aircraft carrier arrives in Caribbean

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.  — President Trump said Sunday that the U.S. “may be having some discussions” with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, a potential diplomatic avenue as Washington further builds up its military presence near the South American country with the arrival of its most advanced aircraft carrier.

Trump didn’t offer details about the possible discussions with Maduro, but he said that “Venezuela would like to talk.”

The U.S. military has been carrying out a series of strikes against vessels suspected of transporting drugs. The arrival of the USS Gerald R. Ford and other warships, announced by the Navy in a statement, marks a major moment in what the administration says is a counter-drug operation but has been seen as an escalating pressure tactic against Maduro.

When asked Sunday what he meant when he said Maduro wants to talk, Trump responded: “What does it mean? You tell me, I don’t know.”

“I’ll talk to anybody,” he added a few moments later. “We’ll see what happens.”

Venezuela’s government didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment. Maduro, who faces charges of narco-terrorism in the U.S., has said the Trump administration is “fabricating” a war against him.

The aircraft carrier’s arrival coincided with the military announcing its latest deadly strike on a small boat that it claims was ferrying illegal drugs. The military’s Southern Command posted a video Sunday on X showing the boat being blown up, an attack it said took place Saturday in international waters of the eastern Pacific Ocean and killed three men. The military did not immediately respond to a request for more information.

Since early September, such strikes by the U.S. in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific have killed at least 83 people in 21 attacks.

The Ford carrier’s strike group, which includes squadrons of fighter jets and guided-missile destroyers, transited the Anegada Passage near the British Virgin Islands on Sunday morning, the Navy said.

Rear Adm. Paul Lanzilotta, who commands the Ford carrier’s strike group, said it will bolster an already large force of American warships to “protect our nation’s security and prosperity against narco-terrorism in the Western Hemisphere.”

Adm. Alvin Holsey, the commander who oversees the Caribbean and Latin America, said in a statement that the American forces “stand ready to combat the transnational threats that seek to destabilize our region.”

Holsey, who will retire next month after just a year on the job, said the strike group’s deployment is “a critical step in reinforcing our resolve to protect the security of the Western Hemisphere and the safety of the American Homeland.”

U.S. holds training exercises in region

In Trinidad and Tobago, which is only seven miles from Venezuela at its closest point, government officials said troops have begun “training exercises” with the U.S. military that will run through much of the week.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Sean Sobers described the joint exercises as the second in less than a month and said they are aimed at tackling violent crime in the island nation, which has become a stopover point for drug shipments headed to Europe and North America. The prime minister has been a vocal supporter of the U.S. military strikes.

The exercises will include Marines from the 22nd Expeditionary Unit who have been stationed aboard the Navy ships that have been looming off Venezuela’s coast for months.

Venezuela’s government has described the training exercises as an act of aggression. It had no immediate comment Sunday on the arrival of the aircraft carrier.

Meanwhile, Army Secretary Dan Driscoll said Sunday that U.S. troops have been training in Panama, underscoring the administration’s increasing focus on Latin America.

“We’re reactivating our jungle school in Panama. We would be ready to act on whatever” Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth needed, he told CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

The administration has maintained that the buildup of warships is focused on stopping the flow of drugs into the U.S., but it has released no evidence to support its assertions that those killed in the boats were “narco-terrorists.” An Associated Press report recently found that those killed included Venezuelan fishermen and other impoverished men earning a few hundred dollars per trip.

Trump has indicated that military action would expand beyond strikes by sea, saying the U.S. would “stop the drugs coming in by land.”

On Friday, Trump was asked by reporters whether he had made up his mind on what he intended to do about Venezuela. He did not offer details but said, “I sort of have made up my mind.”

The U.S. has long used aircraft carriers to pressure and deter aggression by other nations because their warplanes can strike targets deep inside another country. Some experts say the Ford is ill-suited to fighting cartels, but it could be an effective instrument of intimidation for Maduro in a push to get him to step down.

Venezuela’s government recently touted a “massive” mobilization of troops and civilians to defend against possible U.S. attacks. Maduro and other officials also have been attending rallies this weekend to back the creation of neighborhood committees that will be in charge of increasing membership in Maduro’s socialist party and promoting its policies.

U.S. to designate Venezuelan cartel as terrorist group

Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the United States does not recognize Maduro, who was widely accused of stealing last year’s election, as Venezuela’s legitimate leader. Rubio has called Venezuela’s government a “transshipment organization” that openly cooperates with those trafficking drugs.

Rubio said in a statement released Sunday evening that the State Department intends to designate Venezuela’s Cartel de los Soles, or Cartel of the Suns, as a foreign terrorist organization. Rubio said the cartel is headed by Maduro and other high-ranking members of his government and is among those “responsible for terrorist violence throughout our hemisphere as well as for trafficking drugs into the United States and Europe.” When the designation takes effect Nov. 24, it will be a crime to provide “material support” to the cartel or its members.

Maduro has rejected U.S. assertions of any involvement in a drug-trafficking organization.

Trump has justified the attacks on drug boats by saying the U.S. is in “armed conflict” with drug cartels while claiming that the boats are operated by foreign terrorist organizations.

He has faced skepticism and opposition from leaders in the region, the United Nations human rights chief and U.S. lawmakers, including Republicans, who have pressed for more information on who is being targeted and the legal justification for the boat strikes.

Senate Republicans, however, recently voted to reject legislation that would have put a check on Trump’s ability to launch an attack against Venezuela without congressional authorization.

Experts disagree on whether American warplanes may be used to strike land targets inside Venezuela. Either way, the 100,000-ton warship is sending a message.

“This is the anchor of what it means to have U.S. military power once again in Latin America,” said Elizabeth Dickinson, the International Crisis Group’s senior analyst for the Andes region. “And it has raised a lot of anxieties in Venezuela but also throughout the region. I think everyone is watching this with sort of bated breath to see just how willing the U.S. is to really use military force.”

Finley and Megerian write for the Associated Press and reported from Washington and West Palm Beach, Fla., respectively. AP writers Anselm Gibbs in Port of Spain, Trinidad, Gabriela Molina in Caracas, Venezuela, and Michelle L. Price in Washington contributed to this report.