Trump tells world leader to flee country to ‘save himself and his family’

Trump’s message is clear.

According to a report by the Miami Herald, Maduro has asked to be allowed to keep control of the Venezuelan military as long as free elections are held in the country, while reportedly seeking global amnesty for the crimes he has allegedly committed.

But Trump is having none of it, as his message was clear to his Venezuelan counterpart. That message is ‘to leave now or else’.

Tensions have flared because of a 'drug war' that is ongoing between both sides.

US Senator from the Republican Party, Dave McCormick, said on Fox News Sunday that the US has “a war that’s coming through fentanyl, through opioids, through cocaine”, as Trump blames Maduro for the drugs pouring into his country.

According to McCormick, the drug trade “has killed 100,000 Americans last year” and that it is “twice the number of people that died in eight years of Vietnam — 4,000 Pennsylvanians.”

The US president made it clear he was closing the airspace around Venezuela, after a phone call between him and Maduro in which they failed to come to an easing of hostility and their strained relations.

Trump went further by warning that military operations could start “very soon” inside Venezuela.

The New York Times has reported that this tense phone call happened in the week of November 16, days after Trump said he was ready for talks.

It has been reported that during the call, the teams went over the details of the surrender of the Venezuelan leader.

The US Department of State, after initially offering a reward offer of up to $15 million for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Maduro in 2020, on January 10, 2025, increased the reward offer to up to $25 million.

On August 7, 2025, the Department announced the further increase in the reward offer to up to $50 million after the Department of Treasury sanctioned Cartel of the Suns as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist on July 25, 2025.