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Maduro claims Trump wanted to start talks with him

According to Venezuelan President, the American establishment did not allow Trump to initiate bilateral talks

BOGOTA, November 20. /TASS/. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has said that his US counterpart Donald Trump tried to initiate bilateral talks with him several times.

"Donald Trump wanted to speak with me a few times. We had contacts through special envoys. However, the [American] establishment did not allow him to do it," Maduro said in Caracas Thursday, his speech was broadcast by the state TV.

The political crisis in Venezuela escalated on January 23, 2019, when Juan Guaido, Venezuelan opposition leader and parliament speaker, whose appointment to that position had been cancelled by the country’s Supreme Court, declared himself an interim president at a rally in the country’s capital of Caracas. Several countries, including the United States, most of the EU states, Lima Group members (excluding Mexico), Australia, Albania, Georgia and Israel, as well as the Organization of American States, recognized him. Incumbent President of the country Nicolas Maduro, in turn, blasted the move as a coup staged by Washington and said he was severing diplomatic ties with the US. In contrast, Russia, Belarus, Bolivia, Iran, Cuba, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Syria and Turkey voiced support for Maduro.