Slideshow ( 2 images ) NEW YORK (Reuters) - No meeting is planned between U.S. President Donald Trump and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said on Wednesday. Earlier, Trump said he would be willing to meet with Maduro if that would help Venezuela and that all options were on the table.<doc-sep>Donald Trump has said he is willing to meet Nicolás Maduro if it would help ease suffering in Venezuela. Trump’s remarks as he arrived for meetings at the United Nations came just hours before Maduro arrived at the last minute in New York to deliver his speech to the general assembly. He had earlier threatened to skip the summit. “I’m willing to meet with anybody anytime I can [to] save lives, help people,” Trump said as he was asked whether the US would ever intervene militarily to remove Maduro. Later on Wednesday, Maduro tweeted that he had arrived in New York to address the general assembly. “I bring the voice of my people, I come charged with patriotic passion to defend the truth,” he said. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders later said that no meeting with Maduro was planned. Trump’s comments came just a day after Trump suggested Maduro could easily be toppled in a military coup, echoing comments first floated last year that some sort of “military solution” may be needed to restore Venezuela’s democracy. Earlier on Tuesday, the US imposed financial sanctions on four members of Maduro’s inner circle, including his wife and the nation’s vice-president, on allegations of corruption. Maduro has been seeking a meeting with Trump for almost two years and has watched with frustration as the US leader has talked with American adversaries such as North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Russian president Vladimir Putin while shunning Venezuelan entreaties. On Wednesday Maduro said he is willing to meet with Trump and to speak about anything the US government wants to discuss. Citgo, a subsidiary of Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, was a major corporate donor to Trump’s inaugural committee. Maduro also this year freed a former Utah missionary jailed for more than two years on weapons charges in a bid to draw close to the White House. Profile Who is Nicolás Maduro? Show Political career Nicolás Maduro has ruled Venezuela without two of the greatest assets possessed by his mentor and predecessor, Hugo Chávez. He has not been lucky. And he has no charisma. Chávez enjoyed an oil bounty and sublime political talents that secured his power at home and reputation abroad. Maduro, in contrast, inherited a wobbling economy addicted to high oil prices and a system of authoritarian populism dependent on showmanship and patronage. Oil prices tumbled and Maduro proved to be a fumbling showman, exposing the financial ineptitude and ideological hollowness of the “Bolivarian revolution”. This could have doomed his presidency, which began in 2013 after Chávez died, but the former bus driver, a hulking bear of a man who rose up trade union ranks, turned out to be tenacious and ruthless. Born into a working class family in Caracas in 1962, he left school without graduating and drove buses for the Caracas metro. He became a union organiser and early supporter of Chávez, who, after leading a failed coup, led a leftwing coalition to an electoral landslide in 1998. Maduro was the speaker of the assembly before serving as Chávez’s foreign minister from 2006 to 2013, a visible if largely silent presence as the comandante held court on the world stage. Chávez anointed Maduro as his heir before succumbing to cancer. The story of his rule – and Venezuela’s agony – is a determination to keep power amid economic collapse, humanitarian disaster and international condemnation. Since January 2019 his presidency has been disputed, with Juan Guaidó being sworn in as interim president, and recognised as Venezuela’s ruler by some international powers. Crisis after crisis has buffeted his government – hyperinflation, food and medicine shortages, power blackouts, mass protests, drone attacks, defections, US-led sanctions – and Maduro has remained standing, resolute, implacable. It is a remarkable position for a man who, in a 2014 Guardian interview, described himself as a bit of a hippy and a fan of Led Zeppelin and John Lennon. “I never aspired to be president,” he said. “I always honour something that commander Chávez told us: that while we were in these posts we must be clothed in humility and understand that we are here to protect the man and woman of the streets.” Rory Carroll Was this helpful? Thank you for your feedback. But his desire for some sort of reconciliation with the US has increased as international pressure has been building on his socialist government at a time of hyperinflation and widespread food and medicine shortages. On Wednesday, presidents from several conservative Latin American governments are expected to meet in New York to sign a complaint with the International Criminal Court asking it to investigate Maduro on charges of crimes against humanity. Maduro has not attended the UN general assembly since 2015 and said last week he may have to suspend his participation this year out of concerns his opponents would try to kill him if he travels abroad. Maduro is probably on the plane from Caracas to NY after hearing this. Dream come true. https://t.co/aAyyDqafmy — Eva Golinger (@evagolinger) September 26, 2018 Trump said on Wednesday that all US options are on the table to help end the political, economic and humanitarian chaos in Venezuela – even the “strong ones”. “I just want to see Venezuela straightened out. I want the people to be safe. We’re going to take care of Venezuela,” he said, calling Venezuela’s situation a “disgrace”. “If he [Maduro] is here and he wants to meet – it was not on my mind, it was not on my plate, but if I can help people, that’s what I’m here for,” he added.<doc-sep>A day after suggesting that he could overthrow Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, President Donald Trump indicated that a meeting between the two leaders could be possible at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA)—but didn't rule out military action. "All options are on the table, every one," Trump told the press Wednesday. "The strong ones and the less than strong ones and you know what I mean by strong. Every option is on the table with respect to Venezuela." JUST IN: President Trump at the UN on pressuring Venezuela and President Maduro: “All options are on the table. Every one. The strong ones, and the less than strong ones. Every option -- and you know what I mean by strong.” pic.twitter.com/FikCAqqViz — NBC News (@NBCNews) September 26, 2018 The statement, doubling down on Trump's earlier threat that Venezuela "could be toppled very quickly by the military if the military decides to do that," was just the latest threat of violent action against a foreign country by the Trump administration, coming a day after the president's speech on Iran. Venezuela's Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza quickly denounced Trump's earlier threat as "grotesque." "Of course, because it isn't his family that's going to die, it's easy for [Trump] to promote violence and the assassination of leaders in a country," Arreaza said. War drums. Trump wants a military intervention in Venezuela. It would be disastrous, prolonged and likely unsuccessful. A crime of aggression. — Eva Golinger (@evagolinger) September 21, 2018 SCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT Never Miss a Beat. Get our best delivered to your inbox. Maduro arrived in New York for the potential meeting with Trump on Wednesday after initially saying he would not attend UNGA. His arrival and Trump's latest comments also came a day after the Trump administration announced it was imposing sanctions on Maduro's wife, vice president, and other close associates. The sanctions were the result of accusations of corruption by Maduro's government. Venezuela has been the target of harsh criticism by Trump and his allies in recent months as conservatives have attempted to portray socialism as the cause of the country's hyperinflation and high level of poverty. As a number of journalists have reported at Vox and Yahoo Finance, the cause of Venezuela's deterioriating economy was not the actions of Maduro's predecessor, Hugo Chavez, who took advantage of high oil prices to pay for strong public food subsidies and healthcare programs—but of plummeting oil production and Maduro's consolidation of power. Yahoo reported in May: Venezuela’s problems stem from corruption and egregious mismanagement, which can happen anywhere. Countries with socialist regimes such as China, Vietnam, Chile and many in Europe have managed to successfully grow their economies as Venezuela’s has tumbled. The Maduro government oversaw the nationalized oil sector and took over a number of other businesses while redirecting resources from private companies to some of the country’s poorest citizens. The redistribution plan led to major reductions in poverty under former President Hugo Chávez, who remains very popular in the country. But it buckled under Maduro when oil prices dropped and he began seizing more industries. Trump said Wednesday that he was open to speaking with Maduro in the interest of getting Venezuela "straightened out," as of Wednesday afternoon, hours after Maduro's arrival in New York, White House reports indicated that Trump had not made good on his statement.<doc-sep>
UNITED NATIONS/CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro headed for New York on Wednesday to attend the United Nations General Assembly and U.S. President Donald Trump said he would be open to meeting the socialist leader of the crisis-stricken South American nation. Venezuela’s government had not previously said whether Maduro would attend the U.N. meeting. Maduro said last week he might not attend, adding “they have me in their sights to kill me” without specifying who might target him. The White House said no meeting was planned between the two leaders, and Venezuela’s information ministry did not respond to a request for comment. Trump’s comments earlier on Wednesday suggested he could meet Maduro, who has been publicly seeking a sit-down with Trump, his ideological foe, since last year. “I would certainly be open to it, I’m willing to meet with anybody,” Trump said as he arrived at the United Nations headquarters. “We’re going to take care of Venezuela, if he’s here and he wants to meet, it was not on my mind, it was not on my plate, but if I can help people that’s what I’m here for.” He said that “all options” were available to find a solution to Venezuela’s ballooning economic and political crisis, which has fueled an exodus to nearby Latin American countries. “All options are on the table, every one,” Trump told reporters. “The strong ones and the less than strong ones - and you know what I mean by strong. Every option is on the table with respect to Venezuela.” The White House last year said a meeting with Maduro would happen when Venezuela returned to democracy. A group of Latin American countries and Canada said earlier on Wednesday they had asked the International Criminal Court to investigate Maduro’s government over allegations of crimes against humanity in its use of force to repress political opponents. Slideshow ( 2 images ) Maduro was due to speak at the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations later on Wednesday. “I am landing in New York to defend the truth of Venezuela, to bring the voice of our fatherland,” said Maduro in a video posted on Twitter showing him and his wife Cilia Flores - whom the United States sanctioned on Tuesday - in the presidential plane. He did not mention Trump in the video. Maduro frequently accuses the United States of seeking to sabotage his administration by fomenting an economic crisis and stoking unrest. The Trump administration and many Latin American government, however, blame Venezuela’s economic meltdown on reckless money printing, dysfunctional currency controls and poor management by Maduro’s administration. Inflation is running at 200,000 percent and basic foods and medicines, like rice and antibiotics, are increasingly difficult to obtain.