The Vatican tried to persuade the US to allow Maduro to flee to Russia
10 January 17:16
At the end of December, the Vatican tried to persuade the US to allow Nicolas Maduro to leave Venezuela and seek asylum in Russia. This was reported by The Washington Post, citing sources and government documents, according to "Komersant Ukrainian".
According to the publication, negotiations with the American side were conducted by the Secretary of State of the Holy See, Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin. On Christmas Eve, he urgently summoned US Ambassador to the Vatican Brian Burchett to find out about Washington’s plans for Venezuela. During the conversation, Parolin said that, in his opinion, the US should “show patience” and offer Maduro a “way out” of the situation. At the same time, he emphasized Moscow’s readiness to provide asylum to the Venezuelan president.
The Washington Post also notes that over the course of several days, Parolin tried to contact US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, “desperately seeking to prevent bloodshed and destabilization in Venezuela.”
A source familiar with the Russian proposal specified that Vladimir Putin had guaranteed Maduro’s safety and was ready to accept his entourage. According to another source, a few days before the start of the US special operation, Maduro was to receive a “final warning,” but he “was not going to agree to the deal” and wanted to “sit back and watch people create a crisis.”
As The New York Times previously reported, at the end of 2025, the US had already offered Maduro to voluntarily resign and go to Turkey, but he rejected the offer. According to Politico, other possible asylum options included Russia, Azerbaijan, and Cuba. The Telegraph also wrote that the US had offered Maduro asylum in China or Russia, but he intended to remain in the Western Hemisphere. In mid-November, according to the NYT, Maduro offered the US his resignation during a two- to three-year transition period, but was refused.
As a result, Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were captured on the night of January 3 by the US Army’s Delta Force special forces and taken to the United States, where they were charged with “narco-terrorism,” weapons possession, and drug smuggling.
