Venezuela: After Maduro's ultimatum expires, Trump gathers his team and evaluates the next measures against the Chavista regime

Last November 21, after months of military, legal and diplomatic pressure, President Donald Trump finally had a conversation with Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, who is under indictment for drug trafficking in the Southern District of New York and has a reward of $50 million for his links to narco-terrorism.

In that call, according to Reuters, Trump gave Maduro until November 28 to leave Venezuela with his family members, promising him an unprecedented safe passage after accusing the dictator of leading the Cartel de los Soles, a foreign terrorist organization involving Venezuelan generals and high-ranking members of the Chavista regime, including Maduro and Diosdado Cabello, his second in command.

The deadline for that ultimatum expired and this Monday President Trump met with his security team and top advisors to evaluate next steps to pressure the Chavista regime, Reuters reported.

So far, there were no details about the meeting or what is planned, but the meeting comes as the White House intensifies its pressure in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific, where the U.S. Army has already sunk at least 21 narco-boats, many of them linked to the Cartel de los Soles and Tren de Aragua, both organizations directly linked to Maduro according to Washington.

It also comes after the U.S. president declared that Venezuelan airspace is now totally closed, a statement that caused much uncertainty in Caracas and raised speculation about attacks on Venezuelan territory, an option that the White House has not yet ruled out in its pressure strategy.

Likewise, Reuters also reported unpublished details of the conversation between Trump and Maduro, previously revealed by the Miami Herald.

In the call, which lasted just 15 minutes, Maduro offered Trump a series of conditions to step down that were largely deemed inadmissible.

Among the conditions posed were full legal amnesty for Maduro and his family members, removal of all U.S. sanctions against the chavista dictator and his entourage, the elimination of the case against Maduro before the International Criminal Court, the lifting of sanctions against more than 100 officials of the Venezuelan regime and, finally, that Delcy Rodriguez, the Chavista vice president, lead a transition process before calling new elections.

Rodriguez, a high-ranking member of the Chavista regime, is the sister of Jorge Rodriguez, president of the Venezuelan Parliament that answers to Maduro. On Monday, Jorge Rodriguez was asked by a journalist about the conversation between Maduro and Trump, but the chavista leader refused to answer, a sign that the call did not go as expected in Caracas.

This Monday, in an apparent attempt to defy Washington, Maduro rallied hundreds of public officials near the Miraflores Palace in downtown Caracas and sent a direct message to the United States and its enemies on radio and television networks: "They will never be able to take us, under any circumstances, off the path of the revolution."

Just days after the ultimatum, the dictator appeared energetic and smiling, even encouraging himself to dance on stage as the public and those close to him applauded.

The dictator acknowledged that the U.S. led an effort of "22 weeks of psychological terrorism, which have put us to the test." However, Maduro affirmed that they remain unperturbed in the face of threats, in a clear challenge to Washington and President Trump, who must now decide, together with his advisors, how to continue the pressure against Caracas.