Trump Engaged in Secret Negotiations with State Department Prior to Maduro's Arrest

Representatives of U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration held negotiations with Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello months before the operation to arrest the country’s leader, Nicolas Maduro, and maintained contact afterward, several anonymous sources informed Reuters.

According to them, the 62-year-old Cabello is mentioned in the same drug trafficking allegations used by the U.S. to apprehend Maduro. However, the minister himself has not been arrested. Two sources indicated that Cabello's communications with the U.S. began at the start of the current administration and continued right before Maduro's abduction. Discussions centered on U.S. sanctions against Cabello and the charges against him. He has maintained contact both directly and through intermediaries.

Four sources stated that Trump’s administration also kept in touch with Cabello after Maduro’s arrest. This previously undisclosed information is reportedly significant for U.S. efforts to manage the situation in Venezuela. According to some reports, Cabello oversees Venezuela's security forces and armed supporters of the ruling party. If he decides to use them to suppress the country's opposition, it could ignite the chaos Trump aims to avoid and threaten the authority of interim President Delcy Rodríguez. Such concerns exist in the United States.

Cabello has long been regarded as Venezuela’s second most powerful figure. An advisor to Maduro, he is a close ally of the late former President Hugo Chávez and has become a staunch Maduro supporter.

Explosions and airstrikes were heard in the Venezuelan capital on the night of January 3. It later emerged that the United States was conducting operations in the country.