Donald Trump and Nicolás Maduro talking? The prospect is on the table, despite the high tensions between the United States and Venezuela. The Republican has informed his team of his plans to speak directly with the Venezuelan leader, according to the news website Axios, on the same day that Washington officially designated the Chavista leader as a foreign terrorist organization and tensions in the Caribbean reached their peak.

So far, there is no firm date set for the conversation, according to the same sources.

Trump's idea may suggest that, despite the concentration of military power that the United States has amassed in the Caribbean, the possibility of direct US action in Venezuelan territory is not currently planned, or at least would be delayed, as has been feared since the first warships began arriving in the area.

“No one is planning to go and shoot [Maduro] or kidnap him, at the moment. You can never say never, but right now it’s not in the plans,” an anonymous senior official told the media outlet. “Meanwhile, we will continue sinking drug boats. We are going to stop the drug trade.” The U.S. operation, dubbed Operation Southern Spear, has attacked at least 21 vessels since September 2, killing at least 83 people in bombings that experts, lawmakers, and human rights advocates consider extrajudicial killings and illegal acts.

The published information coincides with the entry into force this Monday of the designation of the so-called Cartel of the Suns as a foreign terrorist organization, a term encompassing corrupt Venezuelan officials and military personnel who profit from drug trafficking ties and income. The inclusion on this list of a group that, according to Washington, is led by Maduro himself gives the Trump Administration, in the opinion of its senior officials, justification for a new phase of military action in or near Venezuelan territory.

Also on Monday, the top US military official, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine, traveled to Puerto Rico to meet with soldiers and officers of Southern Command, responsible for US military operations in Latin America. It is believed that most of the approximately 15,000 troops deployed for Operation Southern Spear are located on the island. On Tuesday, Caine will also travel to Trinidad and Tobago, according to the government in Port of Spain.

Without ruling out a possible start to a second phase in that operation, Trump himself has also pointed to the possibility of negotiations with Venezuela that would allow the problem to be resolved through diplomatic means.

Eight days ago, coinciding with the arrival in the area of the aircraft carrier Gerald Ford, the world's largest, the US president had declared: “It's possible we're going to talk, that we're going to have conversations with Maduro. We'll see how it goes. They would like to talk.” Trump, who at that moment was speaking to the press at the West Palm Beach airport (Florida), about to board Air Force One, did not give any further details.

Last week, The New York Times reported that Trump had authorized covert CIA operations inside Venezuela. However, at the same time, a long-closed communication channel between the two countries had been reopened. Through this channel, Maduro had offered to step down within a couple of years. This timeframe, however, was flatly rejected by the United States, according to the newspaper.

A Trump advisor quoted by Axios stated, “I see a diplomatic solution as quite likely.” “Donald Trump hasn’t said it directly, but he wants his presidential legacy to be that he did everything he could to stop the flow of illegal drugs into this country,” the advisor added.

In the first months of Trump's presidency, the White House envoy to Venezuela, Richard Grenell, took some steps in that direction. The diplomat established contacts with the Chavista regime and even traveled to Caracas for talks that resulted in the release of six Americans detained in the South American country and the Maduro government's acceptance of repatriation flights for citizens deported by the United States.