Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, whose top political allies have been accused by Washington of dealing in illegal narcotics, on Friday offered to help US President Donald Trump in fighting the drug trade. Top Venezuelan officials including Vice President Tareck El Aissami and Interior Minister Nestor Reverol have been blacklisted by the US Treasury on allegations they have helped move drugs from neighboring Colombia into North America.
Maduro calls those charges a smear campaign, and insists that the United States must do more to reduce drug consumption. "President Trump, if you really want to fight drug trafficking that has destroyed US youth and filled the country with drugs from Colombia, you have an ally in me," Maduro said in a televised broadcast.