This archive report was first published on 23 June 2020.
US President Donald Trump's comments on meeting Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro have sparked a response from the Venezuelan leader.
On Monday, Maduro told the state news agency AVN that he is 'prepared' to speak with Trump, following Trump's earlier statement that he was open to meeting Maduro to discuss his exit from power.
Trump's initial statement was made in an interview with Axios published on Sunday, but he later changed his tone in a tweet on Monday, saying he would only meet with Maduro to discuss a 'peaceful exit from power.'
Maduro's comments come as the US has been one of the chief allies to Venezuela's opposition leader Juan Guaido, but support for Guaido has waned in recent months.
Guaido declared himself acting president in 2019, after the opposition-controlled parliament decreed Maduro a usurper over his 2018 re-election in a poll widely viewed as rigged.
Maduro met with Democratic nominee Joe Biden in 2015, when Biden was vice-president to Barack Obama.
