The United States is negotiating an agreement with Venezuela that could lay the groundwork for a long-term American military presence in the country, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has confirmed.

In an interview with The New York Times, Rubio said the US would like to establish a "presence agreement" with Venezuela allowing American troops to operate "jointly" with the Venezuelan government. His comments, reported on Friday, were the first public confirmation by a senior US official of talks first revealed by the Times on 3 November.

The negotiations, led by the State Department under Rubio, centre on a Status of Forces Agreement, known as a SOFA. Such an agreement sets the legal framework for US forces operating in a host country, covering mutually agreed activities such as ship visits, training, military exercises and humanitarian assistance. The State Department says it has negotiated similar agreements with more than 100 countries.

Details such as the number of troops and their locations have not been settled and would be defined in future agreements, according to US officials cited by the Times. A senior State Department official said serious discussion of US bases in Venezuela was "very, very far off" and that no base talks were currently under way. It remains unclear whether Washington intends to establish new bases or station troops at existing Venezuelan facilities.

The talks follow a meeting in Washington on 2 November between Rubio and Oliver Blanco, Venezuela's new foreign minister, the first bilateral meeting between the two countries since relations were restored. A State Department summary of that meeting spoke of reconciliation between factions, the possibility of elections and the release of political prisoners, but did not mention a military agreement.

The negotiations come about ten months after US forces captured then-president Nicolás Maduro in Caracas in January. Washington has since been dealing with the government of Delcy Rodríguez, and the two sides have been rebuilding a working relationship, including over oil.

President Donald Trump has left the door open to military bases in Venezuela or elsewhere in South America. Asked by The Center Square whether he planned to build a base in the region, he said: "We're looking at doing a lot of things. We're getting along very well, as you know. And Venezuela has been a great situation. We're taking a lot of oil, and we have a great relationship."

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has also said the US is expanding its "footprint in Central and South America with partners" as part of a wider shift in focus towards the Western Hemisphere. He said capabilities would move to a different posture in the hemisphere as the administration pursued what he described as a war against drug cartels and designated terrorist organisations.

The possible shift comes as the Trump administration has confirmed a drawdown of American troops in parts of Western Europe, specifically Germany, while floating the idea of moving additional troops out of Italy and Spain. The administration has also reached an agreement to build two bases in Greenland.

Neither government has publicly confirmed the full scope of the talks, and the White House and Pentagon had not commented on the agreement when the Times first reported it. The newspaper described the negotiations as an extraordinary development in relations between the two countries, and warned that the military cooperation talks could be both significant and risky.