Pentagon: US has “contingency plan” if Maduro steps down

The Pentagon has reportedly prepared a plan in case Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro resigns, highlighting the intensifying tensions between the United States and Caracas.

At a press briefing, Department of Defense spokesperson Kingsley Wilson said, “The department has a contingency plan for everything. We are a planning organisation, if anything were to happen around the world, we have a response planned and ready.”

According to Reuters on December 1, US President Donald Trump, in a phone call on November 21, demanded that Maduro leave his country within a week. Sources told the agency that Trump offered his counterpart the option to leave Venezuela with his family and go anywhere of his choosing. The deadline expired on November 28. In response, on November 29, Trump posted on Truth Social that “all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers” should consider “THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY.”

According to the agency, Maduro expressed willingness to leave the country with his family if a full legal amnesty, including the lifting of all US sanctions were granted. The Venezuelan leader reportedly also demanded the termination of proceedings at the International Criminal Court concerning him, as well as the lifting of US sanctions on 100 Venezuelan officials. In addition, he emphasised that the country’s transitional government, prior to new elections, should be headed by Venezuela’s executive vice president, Delcy Rodríguez. Sources said that Trump “rejected most” of Maduro’s demands.

By Vugar Khalilov