US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated on Tuesday that the main problem in relations with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is that he «has broken all the deals he has made». In an interview with Fox News, the head of US diplomacy asserted that the Venezuelan leader has breached at least five agreements with different US administrations over the last decade. Rubio maintained that the most recent agreement broken by Maduro would have been the one reached with the Joe Biden administration, in which Venezuela committed to holding free elections in exchange for sanctions relief. «President Donald Trump is ready to meet with anyone, but at the end of the day, you need someone willing to uphold a deal,» the Secretary of State noted. The statements come at a time of increasing tension between Washington and Caracas, after Trump ordered a military operation in the Caribbean off the Venezuelan coast to attack alleged drug trafficking infrastructure. The Maduro government has denounced this as an aggression and has warned that it will respond to any incursion into Venezuelan territory. Caracas denies the drug trafficking accusations and asserts that the United States uses these allegations to justify a military escalation. Rubio added that Washington considers the path of agreements with Maduro to be exhausted as long as he «continues to use negotiations as a maneuver and not as a real commitment». The Secretary affirmed that the US maintains communication with regional allies to coordinate positions and that the Trump Administration «will evaluate new measures» in the coming days.
