CARACAS (AP) — The president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, spoke on Wednesday for the first time about a conversation he had with the president of the United States, Donald Trump, ensuring that it was developed in a “tone of respect”, but without offering details amid the growing tension due to the large deployment of US warships and aircraft in the Caribbean and lethal attacks against vessels with suspected drugs.

"About ten days ago, approximately, the White House called the Miraflores Palace. I had a telephone conversation with President Donald Trump," Maduro said during a televised government event. “I can say that the conversation was in a tone of respect, I can even say that it was cordial.”

“I say more, if that call means that steps are being taken towards a respectful dialogue from State (to) State, from country to country, welcome the dialogue, welcome the diplomacy, because we will always seek peace,” he said.

Maduro's comment came three days after Trump confirmed to reporters that he spoke by phone with the Venezuelan president. "I don't want to comment on it, the answer is yes. I wouldn't say it went well or badly. It was a phone call," he said.

Maduro, who spent six years in charge of the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry during the mandate of his predecessor and mentor, the now deceased President Hugo Chávez (1999-2013), said that he learned as Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2006-2012) "diplomatic prudence. I like prudence, I don't like microphone diplomacy when there are important things in silence, they have to be until they happen."

“I believe that the path of the people of the United States and the people of Venezuela has to be a path of respect, diplomacy and dialogue,” he added.

The Trump administration maintains that the naval deployment, among other measures, seeks to combat the threats of Latin American drug cartels. Maduro, meanwhile, describes the deployment as an attack on the nation's sovereignty and part of an effort to overthrow him.

In early August, Washington doubled to $50 million a reward for information leading to the capture of Maduro, whom it formally accused of narcoterrorism. Maduro has said that the complaints are unfounded and that they would seek to destabilize his government.