Venezuelan President\u00a0Nicolas Maduro\u00a0has expressed his willingness to engage in discussions with the Donald Trump administration over drug trafficking and\u00a0the country\u2019s oil reserves.Maduro, in an interview with Spanish journalist Ignacio Ramonet released on Thursday, said his government is ready for serious talks with the U.S. on combating drug trafficking and potential American investment in Venezuela’s oil sector.Rising Tensions Amid US PressureMaduro’s remarks come amid rising tensions with the U.S., which has stepped up pressure on Venezuela, including increased military activity in the Southern Command region, the destruction of alleged drug-smuggling boats, and a naval blockade of sanctioned oil tankers.Don’t Miss:Maduro accused the US of attempting to impose\u00a0regime change in Venezuela and\u00a0gain access to the country\u2019s oil reserves.The US has also conducted drone strikes inside Venezuela, including a recent strike on a port facility believed to be used by a Venezuelan gang for drug storage.Since September, at least 115 people have been reportedly killed in 35 U.S. strikes targeting alleged drug cartels.Venezuela Condemns US ActionsDespite these tensions, Maduro is open to dialogue with the US. He also hinted at the possibility of discussing the recent CIA drone strike in the near future.The US has been ramping up pressure on Venezuela, with actions including\u00a0intercepting Venezuelan oil tankers\u00a0in international waters and\u00a0seizing the largest oil tanker\u00a0off Venezuela\u2019s coast.See Also: An EA Co-Founder Shapes This VC Backed Marketplace\u2014Now You Can Invest in Gaming’s Next Big PlatformThese actions have sparked strong condemnation from the Venezuelan government, with the country\u2019s ambassador to the UN describing them as \u201cthe greatest extortion known in our history\u201d and \u201ca gigantic crime of aggression in progress.\u201dPreviously, Russia reaffirmed its support for Maduro’s government and sovereignty, while Belarus offered refuge, stating that Maduro was always welcome.Read Next: Photo courtesy: Shutterstock”ACTIVE INVESTORS’ SECRET WEAPON" Supercharge Your Stock Market Game with the #1 "news & everything else" trading tool: Benzinga Pro – Click here to start Your 14-Day Trial Now!Get the latest stock analysis from Benzinga:This article Maduro Says Venezuela Is Ready For Serious Talks With US On Drug Trafficking, Oil originally appeared on Benzinga.com\u00a9 2026 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Venezuelan President\u00a0Nicolas Maduro\u00a0has expressed his willingness to engage in discussions with the Donald Trump administration over drug trafficking and\u00a0the country\u2019s<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.demoviewer4.com\/keith-ponder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.demoviewer4.com\/keith-ponder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.demoviewer4.com\/keith-ponder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.demoviewer4.com\/keith-ponder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.demoviewer4.com\/keith-ponder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wp.demoviewer4.com\/keith-ponder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.demoviewer4.com\/keith-ponder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.demoviewer4.com\/keith-ponder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.demoviewer4.com\/keith-ponder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}