In seeking to forge new relations, Venezuela’s Maduro congratulates Trump on election win

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Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro celebrates after partial results were announced by the electoral council, in Caracas, Venezuela in 2024. Maduro has extended an olive branch to U.S. President-elected Donald Trump following Trump's victory Tuesday, widely seen a move to improve relations between Venezuela and the U.S. in Trump's second term. File Photo by Ronald Pena R./EPA-EFE

Nov. 7 (UPI) -- The hard-line Venezuelan leader who once called Donald Trump a "racist cowboy" has congratulated the president-elect on his election win over Vice President Kamala Harris -- a gesture being seen as the extension of an olive branch.

Nicolas Maduro, the authoritarian leader of the South American country, has made several comments since Trump's election victory on Tuesday night that suggest an eagerness to patch up their adversarial relationship.

His foreign ministry first congratulated the American people and Trump on his election in a statement, saying Venezuela "will also be willing to establish good relations with U.S. government, framed in a spirit of dialogue, respect and common sense."

Then, on his radio program Con Maduro de Repente , which translates to Suddenly with Maduro in English, Maduro commented that Trump has "a golden opportunity ... to pacify the world" and to change the relations the United States has had with Latin American countries, according to state-owned Agencia Venezolana de Noticias news agency.

He called Trump's election an "historic return" and an opportunity to end wars, and foster relationships with other nations.

During Trump's first term in office, the American president waged a "maximum pressure" campaign of sanctions and threats against Maduro in a failed attempt to oust Venezuela's authoritarian leader.

Maduro acknowledged in the radio program that Trump's first term "did not go well for us" but added that "this is a new beginning where we are betting on a win-win scenario, for the United States to do well and for Venezuela to do well," AVN reported.

Moisés Naím, a Venezuelan writer and former minister, told The Guardian that to Maduro, Trump represents "a lifeline."

"He desperately needs international recognition and legitimacy," Naím said of Maduor. "He doesn't want to be a pariah."

However, if Trump attempts to normalize relations with Maduro, Naím expects opposition from South Florida's "deeply anti-Maduro" Venezuelan immigrant community, who are members of Trump's base.

Geoff Ramsey, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council's Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center, said on X that Maduro is "clearly betting on a fully transactional approach" with Trump.

"He'll likely be disappointed, but [it] highlights an early test to the new admin's balance of democracy vs. migration vs. energy interests with Caracas."

On the campaign trail, Trump stayed relatively mum when it came to Venezuela, aside from focusing on migrants trying to enter the United States from the South American country.

In a statement following Trump's election win, Ramsey said that while it is likely that the president-elect will adopt a more confrontational rhetoric with Venezuela, "he may see more value in containing the outward flow of migration and securing a U.S. and Western footprint in Venezuela's oil sector than in reverting to a maximum-pressure approach."

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