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The Venezuelan leader, Nicol\u00e1s Maduro<\/a>, has urged Donald Trump to abandon his \u201cillegal warmongering\u201d and begin \u201cserious talks\u201d with his administration as mystery continued to surround a purported pre-Christmas CIA airstrike on the South American country.<\/p>\n Speaking during an hour-long TV interview, Maduro declined to confirm reports of the apparent US attack, which would be the first on Venezuelan soil since Trump began his five-month campaign of military pressure in August.<\/p>\n \u201cThis could be something we talk about in a few days,\u201d Maduro told the Spanish journalist Ignacio Ramonet as he drove the pair through the streets of Caracas in an apparent attempt to project serenity in the face of US pressure.<\/p>\n At one point during what Maduro called the \u201cpod car\u201d broadcast, he drove his silver SUV past his childhood home and the church where his baptism and first communion were held. \u201cCaracas looks so beautiful,\u201d Maduro declared, urging US voters to reflect on whether they wanted Trump to lead them into a South American version of the Iraq war.<\/p>\n Maduro rejected US claims justifying Trump\u2019s campaign that he is the head of a \u201cnarco-terrorist\u201d crime organisation flooding the US with drugs. He said he believed Washington\u2019s true objective was to seize control of Venezuelan resources including oil, gold and rare earth metals.<\/p>\n \u201cSince they can\u2019t accuse me or accuse Venezuela of having weapons of mass destruction \u2026 since they can\u2019t accuse us of having nuclear missiles \u2026 or chemical weapons \u2026 they have invented a claim that the US knows is as false as the claim about weapons of mass destruction that led them into a forever war,\u201d Maduro said. \u201cI believe that we need to set all this aside and start serious talks.<\/p>\n \u201cThe US government knows \u2026 that if they want to seriously discuss an agreement to combat drug trafficking, we\u2019re ready. If they want oil, Venezuela<\/a> is ready for US investment, like with Chevron, whenever they want it, wherever they want it and however they want it.\u201d<\/p>\n The New York Times reported<\/a> last month that Maduro had responded to Trump\u2019s pressure campaign by regularly sleeping in different locations and switching mobile phones so as to avoid being captured by US special forces or killed in an aerial attack.<\/p>\n Asked what impact Trump\u2019s pressure campaign was having on his physical and emotional state, however, Maduro struck a nonchalant tone. \u201cI have a foolproof bunker: almighty God,\u201d he replied. \u201cI have entrusted Venezuela to our Lord Jesus Christ, the King of Kings.\u201d<\/p>\n Maduro\u2019s pre-recorded interview came after Trump said on Monday that the US had hit a docking facility that served Venezuelan drug trafficking boats last month. US media reports have claimed the CIA was behind the drone strike.<\/p>\n If confirmed, the first strike on land would mark a new phase in a campaign<\/a> that has involved the deployment of a huge US naval fleet, airstrikes on alleged drug traffickers<\/a> and a \u201ctotal blockade\u201d of sanctioned oil tankers<\/a>, the seizure of two vessels<\/a> and the pursuit of a third.<\/p>\n Maduro said he had not spoken to Trump since a 10-minute conversation on 21 November, which he called cordial and respectful. \u201cThat conversation was enjoyable even, but since then the evolution has not been enjoyable,\u201d he said, calling for \u201cdialogue and diplomacy\u201d between Washington and Caracas.<\/p>\n