Former Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos said the suggestion was made in September 2017, during Trump’s first term in office.
Bogotá: Former Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos has said that Donald Trump first floated the idea of a US invasion of Venezuela during his first term in office, according to an interview published by the Financial Times on Friday.
Santos said the suggestion was made in September 2017, when Trump asked him to convene a meeting of Latin American leaders at a hotel in New York. According to Santos, Trump raised the issue shortly after arriving.
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“When Trump arrived, he said, half-jokingly, half-seriously: ‘Look at Venezuela, I think it could be fixed quickly with an invasion,’” Santos told the newspaper.
More than eight years later, following months of pressure, Trump authorised a special forces operation that captured Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro in Caracas and transferred him to the United States to face drug trafficking charges.
Santos calls invasion ‘worst possible solution’
Santos, who served as Colombia’s president from 2010 to 2018 and later won the Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating a peace agreement with the FARC rebel group, said the proposal took regional leaders by surprise.
He said he warned Trump that military action would be the “worst possible solution” to Venezuela’s crisis, arguing it would fuel anti-American sentiment across Latin America.
Santos said his response to the operation was mixed. While he welcomed Maduro’s removal from power, he expressed concern about the broader consequences for the region and the international community.
He also criticised the US handling of Venezuela’s political transition, saying Trump had sidelined the country’s opposition and instead worked with Maduro’s former deputy, Delcy Rodríguez, who is now serving as interim president.
Describing Maduro’s rule as “illegitimate”, Santos said Rodríguez was equally lacking legitimacy. “There is no logic there at all,” he said.
Meanwhile, the US Southern Command said on Thursday that the United States has seized another oil tanker in the Caribbean, as part of its intensified campaign to control the flow of Venezuelan oil and enforce economic sanctions.
AFP
Published: 17 Jan 2026, 08:23 am IST
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