 "Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado. Reuters")
US President Donald Trump has said that he will meet Venezuelan Opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado next week.
Machado, who has been a Trump proponent for his actions in Venezuela, is in exile and will likely travel to the US in the coming days.
“I understand she is coming in next week sometime. I look forward to saying hello to her,” Trump told broadcaster Sean Hannity in an interview on Fox News that aired Thursday night.
‘We’ll start hitting land’
Meanwhile, Trump has said that the US is now going to start targeting drug cartels on Venezuelan land after attacking them on the eastern Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea for the past couple of months.
“We are going to start now hitting land with regard to the cartels. The cartels are running Mexico,” Trump told Fox News.
As part of that campaign, United States has killed more than 100 people in strikes on alleged drug boats since September, and Trump has also said that the US forces conducted a land strike on a docking area for such vessels in Venezuela.
The president is also expected to meet with various US-based oil companies to discuss the next steps in acquiring Venezuelan oil reserves.
Washington has “maximum leverage over the interim authorities in Venezuela right now,” said White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt when she confirmed the talks with top US oil executives.
“We’re meeting tomorrow with all of the big oil executives, they’re going to be right here in the White House,” Trump said.
Venezuela not ‘subjugated’ by US
Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodriguez, has insisted her country was not “subjugated,” despite US President Donald Trump’s claim to be in charge there after removing her predecessor, Nicolas Maduro.
“We are not subordinate or subjugated,” Rodriguez said during a ceremony for the 100 Venezuelans that her government says were killed during the US assault.
“Nobody surrendered. There was fighting for the homeland,” when the US forces attacked on January 3, she said.
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View AllWith inputs from agencies