Special Report: Inside the U.S.–Venezuela 'Presence' Talks — What's on the Table and What Isn't
Ten months after U.S. forces seized Nicolás Maduro, the State Department is negotiating a status of forces agreement with Caracas. Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the goal is legal protection for American troops working jointly with Venezuelan forces. Here is what is confirmed, what is denied, and the America First scorecard.
By Clara Hughes
The Trump administration is negotiating an agreement with Venezuela that could lay the foundation for a long-term U.S. military presence in the country, The New York Times reported on November 3, citing U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity, in a report carried by The Philadelphia Inquirer. The talks are being led by the State Department under Secretary of State Marco Rubio, not the Pentagon. The pact under discussion is a status of forces agreement, or SOFA — a legal framework, not a base. Two days later, Rubio confirmed the broad aim in an interview with the Times at the White House. "We would like to have at some point a presence agreement with them, but largely from a legal standpoint, to make sure that our troops there have legal protections and they're operating jointly with them," he said. "But we would have to get into deeper conversation with them over time as to what kind of enduring cooperation" the two countries may have. He said the topic had not yet been discussed in detail between the governments. As this was