Gulf Arab country Qatar is trying to mediate the conflict between the United States and Venezuela, even as President Trump continues to build up military forces in the Caribbean and strike civilian boats, according to three people with knowledge of Qatar’s diplomacy.
Qatar’s efforts were encouraged by the Venezuelan government led by President Nicolas Maduro, but they have not been embraced by the Trump administration, which appears more focused on military options than diplomacy.
The Pentagon has deployed 10,000 U.S. troops to the region, most of them at bases in Puerto Rico, a senior U.S. military official said. Troops are also present on eight surface warships and one submarine in the region.
Marco Rubio, the secretary of state and national security adviser, says Mr. Maduro is an illegitimate leader and a fugitive from a 2020 Justice Department indictment on drug trafficking charges. Mr. Rubio has tried to strategize to oust Mr. Maduro through military pressure, a mission supported by John Ratcliffe, the CIA director, and Stephen Miller, Mr. Trump’s top domestic policy adviser.
“I know Qatar is exchanging messages,” said Juan Gonzalez, who was director for Western Hemisphere affairs at the National Security Council during the Biden administration. “They are trying to find a way to encourage a more structured dialogue or a back channel between the two sides, but they have not had much success with the Trump administration.”
A current official described Qatar’s efforts as aimed at keeping communication channels between the United States and Venezuela open, part of the small country’s goal to play an important role in global diplomacy.
It is one of 12 sets of multinational diplomacy in which Qatar is involved, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive conversations.
Qatari officials spoke about Venezuela with President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and with Antony J. Blinken, his secretary of state, Mr. Gonzalez said. Qatar also hosted meetings between Mr. Gonzalez and a senior Venezuelan official, Jorge Rodriguez, in 2023.
And among the 12 rounds of negotiations, Qatar is mediating several high-stakes talks involving the Trump administration and other parties, including on Israel’s war in Gaza.
But on Venezuela, Mr. Rubio and his allies are successfully promoting a militaristic approach, so the Trump administration has refrained from asking Qatar to play a significant diplomatic role.
Mr. Trump has not publicly declared his intention to oust Mr. Maduro. But last week he asked Richard Grenell, the president’s special envoy and acting executive director of the Kennedy Center, to end diplomatic efforts with Mr. Maduro and his government, U.S. officials said.
Mr. Grenell was the Trump administration’s lead negotiator with Mr. Maduro on issues including the release of some U.S. prisoners, Venezuela’s acceptance of deportation flights carrying its citizens and possible energy and mining deals.
Mr. Maduro has continued to accept deportation flights from the United States despite growing hostility from the Trump administration, and he has expressed interest in the two governments finding common ground, Venezuelan officials say.
Mr Maduro sent a letter to Mr Trump last month saying he and his country were not responsible for drugs entering the United States.
“I know Maduro is eager to reestablish the lines of communication,” Mr. Gonzalez said. He added that because Mr. Trump does not seem interested in diplomacy, Mr. Maduro is “under a lot of pressure from members of his government to end cooperation on migration.”
Mr Gonzalez met with Venezuelan officials in Qatar, Italy and Mexico in 2023 to discuss the possibility of Mr Maduro holding competitive elections in exchange for lifting some US sanctions.
At the same time, Mr. Gonzalez also negotiated for Venezuela to release American prisoners and accept deportation flights from the United States starting in fall 2023. Mr. Grenell secured a renewal of that deal after Mr. Maduro temporarily halted flights this year.
Qatar “hosted the event, held minutes and helped us exchange documents and information on sensitive issues,” Mr. Gonzalez said. “Sometimes when we were stuck on issues, they would engage our government and also send someone to Venezuela to get things done. »
“They’ve been incredibly helpful to us,” he said.
Qatar is one of the world’s largest producers and exporters of natural gas and has attempted to secure trade deals in Venezuela’s vast oil and gas sector.
The Qatari Foreign Ministry declined to comment on its current role in diplomacy between Venezuela and the United States. The State Department and the White House did not respond to requests for comment, nor did Mr. Rodriguez, president of Venezuela’s National Assembly and the government’s top negotiator with the United States.
Mr. Rubio has praised Venezuelan opposition leaders seeking to remove Mr. Maduro and met with five opposition figures in May after they fled the capital Caracas. An adviser to the country’s main opposition leader, María Corina Machado, told the New York Times last month that they were talking with the Trump administration about how to counter Mr. Maduro and criminal organizations.
Since early September, the US military has carried out at least four deadly strikes against civilian boats in the Caribbean, killing at least 21 people. Mr. Trump said they were drug traffickers, but provided no evidence of that or gave the public a clear legal basis for the attacks. On Wednesday, Colombian President Gustavo Petro said his government believed the latest boat hit by the United States was Colombian and carrying citizens of his country.
The military buildup in the Caribbean suggests the Pentagon is aiming to conduct much larger operations, perhaps including in Venezuela itself.
About 4,500 sailors and Marines are aboard the eight surface warships and the submarine. The main growth has been in Puerto Rico, where the force now stands at about 5,500 troops, the U.S. military official said. They include crews of F-35 fighter jets, MQ-9 Reaper drones and other intelligence-gathering and transport aircraft. Maintenance, logistics and other support personnel are also part of the new troops.
The Trump administration sent a confidential memo to Congress in late September claiming that the U.S. government was now engaged in “armed conflict” with drug cartels.
On Tuesday, five House Democratic leaders demanded more information about the military actions, saying in a letter to Mr. Trump that he had failed to define the legal authority to order recent strikes against civilians. They also said he failed to identify groups he calls “designated terrorist organizations.”
This appears to be a new category with no legal or factual basis, created by Mr. Trump in an effort to escalate this conflict, congressional officials said. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth used the term when he posted a video online Oct. 3 boasting about the latest deadly ship strike.
