Overview
- The presidents held their first telephone conversation for more than an hour, and both sides said arrangements are underway for Gustavo Petro to visit the White House in early February.
- Colombia’s interior minister said the leaders agreed to coordinate actions against the ELN along the Colombia–Venezuela border, with Petro requesting support to hit the group’s rear bases in Venezuela.
- Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores remain in U.S. custody in New York on narcotrafficking and terrorism charges after a U.S. military operation in Caracas earlier this month.
- Trump has prioritized restoring Venezuela’s energy infrastructure and told oil executives he expects about $100 billion in private investment for the effort, according to reporting.
- The U.S. has increased pressure on Cuba, with Trump signaling the island should not expect Venezuelan oil and with U.S. naval assets repositioned to the Atlantic north of Cuba, as reported by CNN en Español citing The Washington Post.