The move could pave the way for an attempt to force President Nicolas Maduro out of power, the report says

US President Donald Trump has ordered his diplomats to stop making overtures to Caracas, paving the way for a "potential military escalation" or an attempt to remove Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro from power, the New York Times reported Monday, citing sources. Bilateral tensions have flared up amid what the US claims is a campaign against drug cartels.

Trump reportedly conveyed the instruction to his special presidential envoy Richard Grenell, who had been in charge of negotiations with Maduro and his government, during a meeting with senior military leaders last week, the NYT reported.

The NYT said the US president had "grown frustrated" that Maduro would not voluntarily relinquish power and that Venezuelan officials continued to deny involvement in drug trafficking. The paper reported that officials have described multiple military options for escalation, which "could also include plans designed to force Maduro from power."

According to the NYT, before diplomatic channels were severed, Grenell was trying to make a deal that would avoid a larger conflict and give American companies access to Venezuelan oil. However, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio found the efforts "unhelpful and creating confusion."

In recent weeks, the US has claimed to have destroyed several alleged "drug boats" off the coast of Venezuela, with strikes killing more than a dozen people in total.

US officials claim the Venezuelan government maintains close ties with the cartels, and have called Maduro "effectively a kingpin of a drug narco state" while refusing to recognize him as a legitimate president. Publicly, however, Trump has denied seeking regime change in the Latin American country.

Maduro has vehemently rejected US accusations of drug links and has framed Washington's actions as attempts to topple him. He warned that if Venezuela were attacked, it would declare a state of "an armed struggle." Caracas has already stepped up its military posture to counter the increased US military footprint in the region.

(RT.com)