Maduro ready to talk 'face to face' with Trump

CARACAS, Nov 18 (AFP): Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said Monday he was ready to talk "face to face" with his US counterpart Donald Trump, who hours earlier mentioned possible talks between the two leaders amid soaring military tensions in the Caribbean.

"This country will continue to be at peace, and in the United States, anyone who wants to talk to Venezuela will talk face to face, without any problem," Maduro, whose reelection last year was rejected by Washington as fraudulent, said on his weekly television program.

Trump said Monday he will talk to Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro, as Washington's military buildup stokes tensions, and added that he would be "OK" with US anti-drug strikes inside Mexico.

Trump has dramatically increased the number of US forces in the Caribbean region to tackle what he calls drug traffickers based in a number of Latin American countries including Venezuela and Mexico.

"At a certain period of time, I'll be talking to him," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office when asked if he would speak to Maduro, while adding that the Venezuelan president "has not been good to the United States."