President Donald Trump declined to comment on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro's letter to him regarding negotiations, stating "we'll see what happens with Venezuela" when questioned by a journalist in the past hour. This statement comes as Venezuela's government published the full text of Maduro's letter, which reportedly rejects U.S. accusations of drug trafficking ties and calls them "falsehoods" intended to justify escalation. Maduro's letter, dated September 6th, 2025, and shared by Venezuela's Vice President Delcy RodrĂguez on Instagram today, September 21st, 2025, claims Venezuela is "territory free of drug production" and urges direct talks via envoy Rick Grenell. Meanwhile, on the international stage, Edmundo González Urrutia announced that the tenth report of the International Mission for the Determination of the Acts of the United Nations for Venezuela, detailing alleged murders, deaths in custody, arbitrary arrests, torture, forced disappearances, and sexual violence as systematic political persecution, will be presented to the United Nations Human Rights Council on Monday, September 22nd, 2025, at 11:30 AM. In regional military activity, a U.S. Marine Corps KC-130J Hercules aircraft, call code GROG72, registration 170282, departed CEIBA, Puerto Rico, seemingly for in-flight refueling operations with MV-22B or F-35B aircraft. Separately, satellite imagery analyzed from September 20th, 2025, shows a vessel with a unique superstructure, identified as potentially being the U.S. Special Operations Command vessel MV Ocean Trader, operating southwest of St. Kitts. This vessel, converted from a commercial Ro-Ro ship, serves as a clandestine forward operating base. Venezuelan Vice President Delcy RodrĂguez had previously stated on X (formerly Twitter) that the government was publishing Maduro's letter in full due to its partial filtering, noting the original delivery date. Unsubstantiated social media claims regarding Venezuelan militias training to assassinate President Trump have been circulating. In contrast, a YouGov survey released today indicated that a majority of Americans oppose U.S. intervention in Venezuela, with 52% against overthrowing Maduro and 62% against invading the country. Diosdado Cabello of Venezuela stated that the U.S. is not invincible and that any invasion would be met by "all the United Venezuelans willing to fight." Reports also suggest that elements within Venezuela are militarizing Caracas and forcing public employees to train for combat, with one Lieutenant Colonel calling for military members to surrender and stating a high command is in exile prepared for Venezuela's release.
