Trump doesn’t rule out meeting with Venezuela’s Maduro. ‘I would maybe think about that’
President Donald Trump declined in a recent interview to rule out meeting with Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, expressing openness to a presidential visit that would upend his administration’s hard-line policy toward the dictator.
Axios reported Sunday that when a reporter asked Trump if he would meet with Maduro, the president replied: “I would maybe think about that. ... Maduro would like to meet. And I’m never opposed to meetings — you know, rarely opposed to meetings.”
Trump’s comments — including ambivalence toward his 2019 decision to recognize National Assembly head Juan Guaidó as Venezuela’s interim president — came days after release of former security advisor John Bolton’s book describing Trump’s public toughness toward Maduro as an attempt to win Republican votes in South Florida.
The president’s Axios interview brought quick condemnation from Miami-Dade Democrats. “It is a sad day for the Venezuelan people, democracy and American leadership,” Rep. Donna Shalala, a Democrat representing a Miami-area district, said in a Twitter post about the Axios story. “I stand with Juan Guaido and the people of Venezuela.”
“This betrayal of the fight for democracy in Venezuela confirms that Trump’s rhetoric was false hope all along,” Florida Sen. José Javier Rodriguez, D-Miami, wrote on Twitter. “This is a slap in the face to our vibrant Venezuelan community,” Miami-Dade commissioner Daniella Levine Cava, a Democrat running in the non-partisan race for county mayor in 2020, said in a statement.
South Florida is the heart of Venezuela’s immigrant population in the United States, with more than 100,000 residents born in that country. That makes Trump’s anti-Maduro positions — including a brief flirtation with a U.S. invasion to depose the dictator — a potentially key factor in Florida, a state the president won by less than 2% in 2016.
In January, Miami-Dade’s County Commission unanimously passed a resolution endorsing the Trump administration’s decision to not recognize Maduro’s reelection the prior year.
The resolution quotes Bolton, who then held the position of Trump’s national security advisor. Guaidó traveled to Miami in February and was treated as Venezuela’s leader by local elected officials. Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez refers to him as “Interim President,” and Guaidó’s wife as Venezuela’s first lady after welcoming Fabiana Rosales to his County Hall offices in March.
Gimenez, a Republican running for Congress with Trump’s endorsement, urged Trump “to adhere to the current administration policy toward Venezuela” and called Maduro “a liar who does not respect the dignity of his own citizens.” Gimenez said “diplomatic meetings with him will do nothing to the help the Venezuelan people.”
The freshman Democrat Gimenez hopes to unseat in Florida’s 26th District, Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, issued a statement saying Trump’s interview “clearly shows his complete disregard for freedom and undermines the gains made by the legitimate President of Venezuela, Juan Guaidó.”
A spokesman for U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, a Republican from Naples, said Scott doesn’t want Trump to change positions on turning down past Maduro meeting requests. “No, Senator Scott does not believe President Trump should meet with Maduro — a ruthless thug and dictator that is committing genocide against his people,” Scott spokesman Chris Hartline told the Miami Herald.
This story was originally published June 21, 2020 at 10:01 PM.