Maduro: United States' behavior is 'aggression', communications between the two governments are difficult

(Patria) - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro stated that recent incidents between his country and the United States are US "aggression", not tensions between the two countries, and that there is no communication between the governments, Reuters reported.

The administration of President Donald Trump has increased the US military presence in the southern Caribbean as part of what it calls a crackdown on drug traffickers. This month, a US military raid killed eleven people and sank a Venezuelan ship that the Trump administration said was carrying narcotics.

The US government is trying to justify launching a "criminal attack" on Venezuela, Maduro said during a press conference attended by high-ranking military and other officials.

"This is not tension. It is aggression in its entirety, it is judicial aggression when they criminalize us, political aggression with their daily threatening statements, diplomatic aggression and continuous aggression of a military nature," Maduro said.
Maduro, whose government has met with US officials to negotiate everything from hostage releases to electoral conditions, said this month that communication between the two governments has been difficult.

On Monday, he said communication had been "thrown into the void", although he later added that basic communication still exists to facilitate the return of Venezuelans from the United States.

"Communication with the US government has been rejected, rejected by them themselves with threats of bombs, death and blackmail," Maduro said.

The Trump administration has provided scant information about last week's raid, despite demands from members of the US Congress for the government to justify the action.
The Venezuelan government, which claims to have deployed tens of thousands of soldiers to fight drug trafficking and defend the country, stated that none of the people killed belonged to the Tren de Aragua gang, as Washington claimed.
Maduro has repeatedly claimed that the United States hopes to overthrow him.

The Trump administration supports the opposition in the country, which claims to have won last year's presidential election, not Maduro.

The Venezuelan government announced over the weekend that a US destroyer illegally intercepted and occupied a Venezuelan fishing vessel for eight hours in the waters of the South American country's Special Economic Zone.

Maduro reiterated the accusation on Monday, saying the US is "looking for an incident".
Shortly after Maduro's statement, Trump announced that the US military had destroyed a Venezuelan drug cartel ship en route to the United States, killing three people.