Tensions in the Caribbean

WSJ: Trump threatened violence if Maduro does not step down

In a phone call last week, Donald Trump urged Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to step down voluntarily. If he does not do so, the United States will consider other measures, including military strikes, Trump’s message was, according to the Wall Street Journal’s sources.

The call also discussed the terms of an amnesty for Maduro, his closest associates and their families. Many of them have US sanctions and criminal charges hanging over them.

The US has been practicing air strikes against Venezuela in recent weeks. Over the weekend, Trump wrote on Truth Social that Venezuelan airspace “should be considered closed.”

Analysis: Donald Trump's War on Drugs Is Not Connected

Donald Trump claims that drug trafficking is one of the greatest threats to US national security. His administration is bombing boats from Venezuela using the fight against drugs as a pretext, and Trump yesterday sent a threatening message that Venezuelan airspace should be considered closed.

Just 24 hours before the warning on Truth Social, Trump had, on the same platform, opened the possibility of pardoning former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández. Hernández is serving a 45-year prison sentence for helping smuggle hundreds of kilos of cocaine into the US.

"It's a remarkable contradiction," writes Tyler Pager in an analysis in the New York Times.

An American attack on Venezuela would be a bad idea for several reasons, write Emma Ashford and Evan Cooper in an analysis in Foreign Policy. Above all, they argue, it is not in the US interest.

“Toppling the political regime in Venezuela is a risky project that does not guarantee stability, reduced immigration or control over the drug trade.”