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Washington.- U.S. President Donald Trump will discuss with his advisors this Monday the next steps related to Venezuela amid Washington's broad military deployment in the Caribbean and its increasing pressure on Caracas, a day after confirming a call with his Venezuelan counterpart, Nicolás Maduro, according to the White House.
"I confirm that the president will meet with his National Security team to discuss this issue (of Venezuela) and many others," said Administration spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt, when asked about the meeting, initially reported by CNN citing anonymous sources.You may be interested in: http://Trump urges Israel not to hinder the transformation of Syria into a "prosperous state"
Leavitt did not want to elaborate on the issues to be addressed, and instead hinted that this is a routine meeting. Trump "meets with his National Security team frequently. He is the Commander in Chief. Part of his responsibility is to ensure peace around the world," he warned. According to CNN reports, the meeting will take place in the Oval Office of the White House, which is expected to be attended by senior officials such as the Secretaries of State, Marco Rubio, and of War, Pete Hegseth, along with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Dan Caine. These conversations are taking place at a time of uncertainty in the region, following the escalation in Trump's rhetoric against the South American country's government and his warning this weekend to pilots and airlines, to whom he said they should consider the Venezuelan airspace and its surroundings "closed". The U.S. president refused to clarify this Sunday if his alert meant an imminent attack on Venezuelan soil, as part of an expansion of the anti-drug campaign that his Army is carrying out in Caribbean and Pacific waters, with attacks on about twenty alleged boats serving drug trafficking and the death of more than 80 crew members. Trump did confirm a phone call with Maduro, although he refused to give details of the conversation. The exchange between both leaders would have occurred last week to agree on a possible meeting in the United States, although the dialogue did not result in concrete plans, according to reports from The New York Times based on anonymous sources. The meeting this Monday between Trump and his advisors also coincides with the increase in scrutiny in Congress over the legality of US attacks on alleged drug-related vessels in the Caribbean and the Pacific. Bipartisan commissions take the first steps to investigate whether Secretary of War Hegseth allegedly committed war crimes by ordering a second deadly attack to finish off survivors of a Venezuelan boat in Caribbean waters, according to reports from The Washington Post. Hegseth has called the information false and Trump has defended his Secretary of War, assuring that he believes his version.
