Trump gave Maduro seven days to flee Venezuela

US President Donald Trump told Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro that he has a week to flee the country with his family, refusing to grant amnesty to him and his entourage, Reuters reported on Monday. After the deadline expired on Friday, Trump announced the closure of the airspace over Venezuela.

Maduro set conditions

The agency describes the course of the less than 15-minute telephone conversation between the two leaders, which took place on November 21. According to sources, Maduro allegedly told Trump that he was ready to leave Venezuela provided he was guaranteed amnesty, the lifting of sanctions and the end of the proceedings in the International Criminal Court against him.

The Venezuelan leader also allegedly demanded the lifting of sanctions imposed on over a hundred people in his government and proposed that his deputy, Delcy Rodriguez, take over the government until new elections are held.

The deadline was Friday

Trump reportedly rejected most of the proposals and told Maduro he had a week to leave the country with his family. When that deadline passed on Friday, the president declared the airspace over Venezuela closed the next day. According to previous Wall Street Journal reporting on the conversation, Trump also allegedly threatened to use force if Maduro did not relinquish power.

The leaders' conversation took place against the background of constantly increasing US pressure and threats against Venezuela and President Maduro, who is accused by the US prosecutor's office of having links with the Cartel de los Soles drug cartel. In November, it was recognized by the US authorities as a terrorist organization. Last week, the US president announced that the US military would conduct ground attacks against drug traffickers.

On Monday, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said that Trump isn't ruling out either option. She also confirmed reports that there will be a meeting on Venezuela at the White House on Monday with the participation of leading representatives of the administration, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Caine.

President Maduro mobilizes armed forces to “defend the homeland”

On Monday, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro called on soldiers from select Bolivarian units to “defend the homeland and peace” against the “threat posed by the United States armed forces present in the Caribbean Sea.” The leader made the appeal during a military parade in the capital, Caracas.

Maduro took part in the swearing-in ceremony of the soldiers of the Bolivarian Troops – a formation created in honor of Simon Bolivar, the ideologist of the Venezuelan revolution in the first half of the 19th century.

The decision to create these branches is one of the elements of the preparations of the Maduro government to the expected US military attack on Venezuela. The belief that this could happen led many foreign airlines, including American carriers, Spanish Iberia, Colombian Avianca and Turkish Airlines, to announce on November 21 the suspension of flights to Venezuela “for security reasons” or “due to potential threats in the region.”

Only planes from airlines of some Latin American countries still land at the Caracas airport.

From Washington Oskar Górzyński (PAP)