White House gives Maduro ultimatum as U.S. moves toward land operations
Source: Miami Herald
As Washington prepares to launch land attacks inside Venezuela, a long-awaited phone call between the White House and Caracas aimed at defusing the crisis carried a blunt message for strongman Nicolás Maduro: You can save yourself and those closest to you, but you must leave the country now, sources familiar with the exchange told the Miami Herald.
The call — which The New York Times reported took place last week — quickly reached an impasse as it became clear that the two sides’ positions were far apart. Washington demanded that Maduro and his top allies leave Venezuela immediately to allow the restoration of democratic rule, while regime leaders proposed handing political control to the opposition but retaining command of the armed forces.
According to the sources, the U.S. message to Maduro was direct: Safe passage would be guaranteed for him, his wife Cilia Flores, and his son only if he agreed to resign right away.
Read more: https://amp.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/venezuela/article313261442.html
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no_hypocrisy
(53,916 posts)
VMA131Marine
(5,131 posts)A land war in Venezuela …
Maybe Trump thinks he can just take Caracas and that will be the end of it but I have my doubts.
Sneederbunk
(17,061 posts)melm00se
(5,133 posts)has the geography to support a strong insurgent force.
slightlv
(7,132 posts)We protested against going in... before and after to no avail. Is there anything we can do to stop this? Im thinking no... as long as they can pull our money they don't care. Use our tax dollars to set things up for them to make millions if not billions. It just seems like we should have some say... he isn't even using his tax dollars cos he doesn't pay... which is why we have never seen a tax form from him. The extrajudicial murders drives me nuts... but declaring war? I thought congress had that power!
Cha
(316,079 posts)
Irish_Dem
(78,380 posts)
ananda
(34,127 posts)Maduro appealed to Putin for help, and he sent a
bunch of soldiers and a general over there.
GreenWave
(12,111 posts)Irish_Dem
(78,380 posts)He is barely holding his own in Ukraine, his economy is in shambles,
and he could lose his power in Russia as it is.
So we are most likely looking at Putin posturing against Trump to get Trump to hand him Ukraine.
Trump can have Venezuela if Putin gets Ukraine.
Or Trump and Putin are doing a bit of Kabuki theatre together as they steal global oil and resources
and divide up the spoils. It is all political theater and they are in cahoots.
My best guesses at this point.
We should know more over the next month.
ananda
(34,127 posts)I have a hard time seeing Trump doing thinking
all that sophisticated, but if he's not doing the
thinking here, then who is?
Why would anyone in their right mind think
this way anyway?
We are stuck in the middle of some pretty dark
insanity here.
Ilikepurple
(414 posts)Putin and Trump are obviously allied to some degree with Putin seemingly having the upper hand in the past. With the power Trump wields now, it’s hard to know who has the upper hand presently. Is Trump cutting his puppet strings and going in without Putin’s blessing? Or have Trump, Putin, and Xi have some understanding about Venezuela, Ukraine, and Taiwan? It’s bad either way, but I fear the latter more.
ananda
(34,127 posts)I know what you mean.
Putin is pretty desperate for oil these days,
and Xi also wants to control Taiwan.
Maduro appealed to both of them for help,
and all Trump wants to do is get all the oil
for himself I expect.
However, alienating both Putin and XI might
significantly shift Trump's stature on the world
stage.
Europe and NATO don't even seem to be in the
picture on this, which feels really weird.
Cha
(316,079 posts)Russia and China have Oil Interests there? I read that yesterday on DU.
TY
enid602
(9,594 posts)I wish someone would give Trump the same ultimatum to allow the restoration of democratic rule.
IronLionZion
(50,492 posts)
mdbl
(7,912 posts)Please tell me it's something other than Donald Dump trying to oust a democratically elected leader and install a past dictator.
sinkingfeeling
(56,886 posts)EX500rider
(12,113 posts)The result of the election became contested as the government claimed Nicolas Maduro won with 51.90% of the vote.
However, international organism including the Carter center and the United Nations contested this claim as being false and filled with irregularities.
On the other hand, the opposition published the detailed electoral results in the form of scanned copies of the tally sheets on the website resultadospresidencialesvenezuela2024.com
The opposition was able to obtain 83.50% of the reported tallies, showing that the candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia won with 67.08% of the votes
Yeah, right, send in the Marines and teach them how to do democracy, MAGA style. What could go wrong?
Authoritarian regimes are the rule in Latin America, thanks to decades of "send in the Marines."
Deuxcents
(25,023 posts)GJGCA
(185 posts)(modified a bit)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Melos#Melian_Dialogue
Deuxcents
(25,023 posts)Never heard of the phrase, Melian Dialogue before so thanks for your post
MorbidButterflyTat
(3,996 posts)The other day Piggy declared the airspace over Venezuela a no fly zone?? Who is he to do that?
OMG I hate that asshole. 
Bayard
(28,037 posts)Goes along with his goal to become King of North and South America.
"The U.S. has placed a $50 million bounty on Maduro —the largest reward ever offered for a sitting head of state" Doesn't say if that's dead or alive.
GreenWave
(12,111 posts)If Maduro were a strongman, Venezuela would have control of its own oilfields.
But what does the writer call Trump?
EX500rider
(12,113 posts)The Venezuelan government, through its state-owned oil company Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA), controls most of Venezuela's oil fields.
GreenWave
(12,111 posts)Chevron must get US permission to pump the good oil..
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/chevron-granted-restricted-us-license-operate-venezuela-sources-say-2025-07-30/
No money from oil proceeds can be transferred to Maduro's gvmt WTF????
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/9/4/venezuela-has-the-worlds-most-oil-why-doesnt-it-earn-more-from-exports
Chevron is on the West where the good petroleum is for cars,
The Orinoco Belt is filthy bad oil and PDVSA has that under its belt.
Lies about Nationalization occurred during the presidency of Carlos Andres Perez where oil companies had their NAMES nationalized such as Maraven, Petroven etc.
When Venezuela wanted to use "its" good oil and charge more than a few pennies on the barrel to rebuild the country, the USA bawked like an Imperialist vulture.
duckworth969
(1,031 posts)Could you explain what you mean about the Orinoco Belt petroleum reserve being “filthy bad oil”?
From Wiki:
“…Orinoco Belt are up to 235 billion barrels (3.74×1010 m3) which would make it the largest petroleum reserve in the world…”.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orinoco_Belt
https://pubs.usgs.gov/publication/fs20093028
I know oil isn’t oil. But bad oil? That seems like hyperbole to me.
GreenWave
(12,111 posts)Here you go..
Venezuela’s oil is mostly heavy crude, which requires more complex refining processes to convert into usable products such as gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel. Despite its vast reserves, the oil extracted from the Orinoco Belt is more difficult and costly to refine compared to lighter crudes, which has contributed to the difficulties in maximizing production from these reserves.
NickB79
(20,194 posts)After nationalizing foreign oil resources to fund social programs, they quickly found out that they didn't have the ability to keep the oil flowing without foreign help. Oil fields declined, a brain drain of qualified petro engineers crippled the industry, and equipment wasn't replaced as it should have been.
So, they were forced to get outside assistance, and that left them open to US demands on American firms (like Chevron) who want to operate in Venezuela.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Venezuelan_oil_industry
The Chávez government used PDVSA resources to fund social programmes, and PDVSA staff were required to support Chávez. His social policies resulted in overspending [25][29][30] that caused shortages in Venezuela and allowed the inflation rate to grow to one of the highest rates in the world .[31][32][33]
According to Corrales and Penfold, "Chávez was not the first president in Venezuelan history to be mesmerized by the promise of oil, but he was the one who allowed the sector to decline the most", with most statistics showing deterioration of the industry since the beginning of his presidency.[34]
thought crime
(1,057 posts)Trump seems to be acting like a Medieval King - Imagine that! It should be interesting to watch the ensuing plunder, which will no doubt be a big beautiful deal involving Oil.
everyonematters
(3,987 posts)If the Trump administration wants to force him out, It probably won't be that hard. The question is, how much suffering and death is going to occur, and what will be the difference in Venezuelan's lives? Is this an attempt to exploit oil? If they take this action without any approval from Congress, it is clearly unconstitutional.
GreenWave
(12,111 posts)Jimmy Carter was okie dokie with the last rounds of elections. Jimmy Carter!
Trump's puppet claims he won and when you look at the oil reserves you can see why the pigs will lie like a rug to get their grubby hands on that oil. Trump wants that oil money.
Please don't anybody fall for simplistic domino theories, such as we are liberators, crap like that.
SupportSanity
(1,560 posts)Will he start up the draft?
sinkingfeeling
(56,886 posts)duckworth969
(1,031 posts)If our past conflicts proved anything, jungle wars don’t go well for us.
Angry locals, cartel thugs, insurgents, patriotic fired-up trained soldiers, support from the Russkies and Chinese, etc.
I know people disagree about air war vs. land war effectiveness.
I’m a layman, but I don’t see drones and smart bombs making a war with Venezuela easy for us.
To win, you need boots on the ground. Boots on the ground means body bags and flag-draped caskets.
This is about oil and rare earth minerals.
Aristus
(71,404 posts)Do we have a 25th Amendment for nothing?
yaesu
(8,844 posts)Bluetus
(2,037 posts)as el Presidente and let maduro stay on as Vicepresidente. Vance can still be cabin boy. Trump and Maduro has a lot in common, and Trump really could be el Presidente for life.
MissouriDem47
(349 posts)How much time does he have to get out of Dodge before Marshall Dillion puts the hurt on him?
J_William_Ryan
(3,205 posts)Controlled by Republicans, who will do nothing to oppose Trump’s illegal war.
Cirsium
(3,235 posts)We have people right here who seem to be OK with this "topple the evil dictator" sabre-rattling insanity.
GreenWave
(12,111 posts)read the worst case scenario...
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/chagas-disease-(american-trypanosomiasis)
Also if they try to seize the Orinoco oil fields and go for a swim in that sweltering heat, there are often tiny parasites that enter through the body's lower orifices. Then they attack and begin munching away!
jmowreader
(52,811 posts)The fish is known as Candiru, and there are ten different species. Candiru are infamous for their alleged ability to crawl up inside your urethra and shoot out these massive spines to stay in place, resulting in you needing an emergency penectomy to survive the attack. They don't actually do this - they're too big. What they CAN do is bite through your skin and eat your muscles. It's been recorded that a school of candiru stripped an adult human's corpse of all flesh in thirty minutes.
GreenWave
(12,111 posts)
DownriverDem
(6,945 posts)for oil and money.
Justice matters.
(9,168 posts)he also promised to "lower groceries prices" ... and his base of gullible idiots (many of them Latinos) believed him...
Given he raised the price of groceries with stupid tariffs instead, that's were he's going??