Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has expressed his willingness to step down from power if the United States grants him political asylum, full amnesty, removes the financial reward set for his arrest, and provides him with a “comfortable exile.” According to reports by the American magazine The Atlantic, Maduro has conveyed this offer through diplomatic channels connected to Venezuelan dialogue mediators, while Washington has not yet given an official response.
The socialist president, who has been in power since 2013, is currently under multiple US sanctions and is accused by the US Department of Justice of international drug trafficking. A $15 million reward has been announced for his arrest.
Sources at The Atlantic emphasize that Maduro's latest stance comes at a very sensitive moment for Venezuela, following increasing international pressure to organize free elections, release political prisoners, and restore national dialogue.
If his demands were accepted, Maduro's resignation would mark the end of more than a decade of authoritarian rule and pave the way for a possible democratic transition in the oil-rich country, which has been economically devastated by a prolonged political crisis and galloping inflation.
