From enemy to host? U.S. negotiating a deal that could keep American troops in Venezuela

The Trump administration is negotiating a status of forces agreement with Venezuela that could lay the legal groundwork for a long-term U.S. military presence there, The New York Times reported Tuesday, citing U.S. officials. Secretary of State Marco Rubio's department is leading the talks. Any troop numbers or locations would be settled in later agreements, the officials said, and congressional aides were briefed on the coming negotiations in late October.

The State Department did not confirm the specific talks. In a statement to the Times it said it has negotiated such agreements with more than 100 countries and that they give "a clear, predictable legal framework" for things like training, exercises, ship visits and humanitarian work. Venezuela's embassy in Washington did not respond.

It's a remarkable turn ten months after the U.S. operation that seized Nicolás Maduro on Jan. 3. Rubio met Venezuela's new foreign minister, Oliver Blanco, in Washington on Monday; the State Department's readout mentioned political reconciliation, possible elections and prisoner releases, not a military pact. Southern Command sent about 2,000 troops into and around Venezuela after June's earthquakes, and they have since left. In June a U.S. airstrike inside Venezuela killed a founder of the Tren de Aragua gang, with Venezuelan forces involved, both governments said.