Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro is desperately seeking to cool tensions with the United States, after President Trump has approved of no less than three major military strikes on alleged drug boats which departed Venezuela, and were traversing the South Caribbean.Â
The letter was made public on Telegram by Venezuela’s Vice President Delcy Rodriguez. In it Maduro vehemently denies being involved in narco-trafficking, calling the allegations “fake news, propagated through various media channels.“ The Venezuelan president further offers to engage in “a direct and frank conversation with your special envoy” – in reference to Richard Grenell, who hasn’t directly commented.
The letter was actually issued four days after the initial September 2nd US strike which killed 11 Venezuelans on a boat the US said was being used to transport drugs to the US. But it was only publicly disclosed on Sunday. More have died since then.
Given last week’s two additional strikes under similar circumstances, it seems the Trump White House did not believe Maduro’s assertions of not being involved in drug trafficking.
The letter further included Maduro explaining that he is submitting to the Trump administration “compelling data on drug production and drug trafficking … that demonstrates that Venezuela is a territory free of drug production.”
The top-level communication also featured the following claims by Maduro:
“According to UN data, only 5% of the drugs originating in Colombia transit through Venezuela.”
“This year alone, we have neutralized more than 70% of that small percentage attempting to cross our more than 2,200-kilometer border with Colombia; this is a very important figure.”
“These figures confirm Venezuela’s impeccable record in the fight against international drug trafficking, a fact recognized by all relevant international institutions and agencies.”
“I respectfully invite you, President, to promote peace through constructive dialogue and mutual understanding throughout the hemisphere,” Maduro added.
He also hailed his military and policing efforts, saying that Venezuela has destroyed over 400 aircraft linked to drug smuggling of late, and that this can be demonstrated directly to special envoy Grenell. Maduro said they should meet, “so that we can overcome media noise and fake news.”
Blackwater founder and Trump crony Erik Prince gave the order last year to raise the bounty on Maduro to $100 million, promising “magic”
His mafia backs Maria Corina Machado, who almost certainly promised to sell them Venezuela’s resources once she’s installed through force pic.twitter.com/LTBselwLrn
— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) September 3, 2025
President Trump has yet to confirm or deny whether he had received the letter, only responding to a reporter’s question on the matter by saying “We’ll see what happens with Venezuela.”
Still, Maduro has warned that his country will defend itself against US “aggression”. His defense minister has also called what’s been happening off Venezuela’s coast “an undeclared war”.
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