US President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that he was ordering a naval blockade against sanctioned oil tankers in Venezuela. This increases military pressure on Venezuelan head of state Nicolas Maduro following the US seizure of an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela last week and in view of the ongoing military buildup in the region.Trump made the announcement on his social media platform, claiming Venezuela was using oil revenues to finance drug trafficking and other illegal activities.
“Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest armada ever assembled in the history of South America,” Trump posted. “It will only get bigger, and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before – to the point where they return to the United States of America all the oil, land and other assets they previously stole from us.”
.
The military campaign included attacks on ships in international waters in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, leaving at least 95 people dead in 25 known attacks.While the operations have come under scrutiny from U.S. lawmakers, the Trump administration has defended them as successful in preventing drugs from reaching American shores.The administration has claimed that the campaign’s main goal is drug interdiction, but recent comments from Trump’s chief of staff suggest broader goals.In an interview with Vanity Fair published Tuesday, Trump’s chief of staff Susie Wiles suggested the operations were part of a strategy to oust Maduro from power, saying Trump “wants to keep blowing up boats until Maduro cries uncle.”
