Trump spoke by phone last week with Maduro, Venezuela’s leader

President Donald Trump spoke by phone last week with Nicolás Maduro, the Venezuelan leader, and discussed a possible meeting between them, multiple people with knowledge of the matter said, even as the United States continues to threaten military action against Venezuela.

The conversation took place late in the week, two of the people said. It included a discussion about a possible meeting between the two men in the United States, according to the people with knowledge of the matter, who were granted anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. There are no plans at the moment for such a meeting, one of the people said.

The phone call, which included Secretary of State Marco Rubio, came days before a State Department designation of Maduro as the leader of what the administration considers a foreign terrorist organization, the Cartel de los Soles, came into effect.

The United States has built up a substantial military presence in the Caribbean aimed at Venezuela. Administration officials have said their goal is to deter drug smuggling but have also made clear that they want to see Maduro removed from power, possibly by force.

The New York Times reported in October that Maduro had offered the United States a significant stake in the country’s oil fields, along with a host of other opportunities for U.S. companies, in an effort to defuse tensions. But Maduro sought to remain in power, and the U.S. officials cut off those discussions early last month.

A White House spokesperson declined to comment on the call between Trump and Maduro. The Venezuelan government did not respond to a request for comment. Two people close to the Venezuelan government confirmed that a direct call between the two leaders had taken place. They did not want to be identified because they are not authorized to speak publicly.

What the call ultimately means for the administration’s approach to Maduro remains to be seen. Trump has a long history of engaging in dual tracks with adversaries, with discussions on one track and threats of force on the other. The Trump administration has been using missile strikes to bomb Venezuelan boats that U.S. officials say have been trafficking drugs.

Those strikes are part of a broader aggressive posture against Venezuela, where Maduro has remained in power after a 2024 election that the United States has called corrupt. The United States has sent an aircraft carrier group to the waters near Venezuela, sent Air Force bombers over the region, prepared covert action plans and made regular threats to use force.

On Thanksgiving evening, Trump, flanked by military leaders, said that the efforts to stop drug traffickers would move to land-based operations. “The land is easier, but that’s going to start very soon,” Trump told reporters at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida estate.

And on Friday, Trump posted on Truth Social about Saturday’s elections in Honduras, endorsing the National Party’s Nasry Asfura and describing two of his rivals as controlled by Maduro.

“Will Maduro and his Narcoterrorists take over another country like they have taken over Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela?” Trump wrote. “The man who is standing up for Democracy, and fighting against Maduro, is Tito Asfura, the Presidential Candidate of the National Party.”

The administration has examined a range of options for Venezuela, including seizing the country’s oil fields. Rubio, a leader of the efforts against Maduro in the Trump administration, has described Maduro as an illegitimate president.

But the direct conversations between Trump and Maduro could be the beginning of an effort to create an offramp from an escalating use of force, though the administration appears intent on an outcome that requires Maduro to leave office.