Trump confirms talks with Maduro

TT

Updated 00.20 | Published 00.11

 

President Donald Trump confirms talks with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Photo: Alex Brandon/AP/TT

US President Donald Trump has spoken on the phone with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, Trump confirms.

"I wouldn't say it went well or badly. It was a phone call," the US president told reporters aboard Air Force One.

The information comes amid escalating tensions between the countries after the US carried out a series of deadly attacks off the coast of Venezuela this autumn against what it claimed were drug-smuggling boats. Washington has blamed Maduro for part of the smuggling.

Several US warships are also in the waters of the Caribbean Sea near Venezuela.

Maduro has responded by putting the country on war alert.