The President's Special Envoy for Special Missions, Richard Grenell, stated that the decision to Donald Trump His openness to talking with his counterpart Nicolás Maduro does not represent a position of weakness.
“I don’t think talking to Maduro is a weak position. And many people criticized me harshly for saying that it’s a weak position to go and talk to him. I totally disagree,” he declared during an interview at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).
The US official defended the negotiation style with the "America First" approach that identifies the current government of the North American country.
In this context, Grenell cited his experience as ambassador to Germany to illustrate his approach of prioritizing U.S. interests. He said he was criticized for being too tough and not seeking to help the Germans.
He added that Chancellor Merkel “once reprimanded me and said, ‘You know, give us a break once in a while.’ And I said, with all due respect, Madam, you have an ambassador in Washington. I am here for the American people. I work for the American people. They pay my salary. I want our embassy to be the best for the United States. I don’t really care too much about German problems,” he emphasized.
Grenell stressed that his role is to represent the US, not the other country, which justifies a firm stance in dialogue with adversaries.
The diplomat's comments come after the Republican president declared for the second time this Monday that he would "probably" speak with the Venezuelan president, while maintaining a military deployment in waters near Venezuela.
For his part, President Nicolás Maduro, referring to the possibility of dialogue with Donald Trump, stressed that “whoever wants to talk to Venezuela, We will talk face to face.".
Dialogue is good, but those who don't like dialogue are the ones who want war. They're the ones who like war, and they're calm. They're traitors. They only like their own interests, not the peace of others who fuel war.