- Coast Guard moves to seize third Venezuelan-linked vessel.
- A large U.S. military presence is deployed in the Caribbean.
- UN criticism grows over the legality of the oil blockade.
The White House has directed U.S. military forces to concentrate primarily on enforcing a “quarantine” of Venezuelan oil for at least the next two months, according to a U.S. official who spoke with Reuters. This move indicates that Washington is leaning more towards economic pressure rather than direct military action to instigate political change in Caraca, reports Reuters.
Economic Pressure Takes Priority
“While military options still exist, the focus is to first use economic pressure by enforcing sanctions to reach the outcome the White House is looking for,” the official said on Wednesday, speaking on condition of anonymity. President Donald Trump has publicly avoided spelling out his objectives, but Reuters has reported that he has privately pressured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to flee the country. Trump said on Monday it would be smart for Maduro to leave power.
“The efforts so far have put tremendous pressure on Maduro, and the belief is that by late January, Venezuela will be facing an economic calamity unless it agrees to make significant concessions to the U.S.,” the official added.
U.S. Aiming to Seize a Third Vessel
Trump has accused Venezuela of inundating the U.S. with drugs, and for months, his administration has targeted boats coming from South America that they claim were transporting drugs, actions that many countries have condemned as extrajudicial killings. Trump has also consistently threatened to bomb drug-related infrastructure on land and has authorised covert CIA operations aimed at Caracas.
So far this month, the U.S. Coast Guard has intercepted two tankers in the Caribbean Sea, both fully loaded with Venezuelan crude. The comments from the White House official came after a Reuters report stated that the Coast Guard was awaiting additional forces to execute a third seizure, which was first attempted on Sunday with an empty sanctioned vessel known as the Bella-1. Venezuela’s U.N. Ambassador Samuel Moncada said on Tuesday: “The threat is not Venezuela. The threat is the U.S. government.”
Significant U.S. Military Presence in the Caribbean
The White House official didn’t elaborate on what it means for the military to focus “almost exclusively” on intercepting Venezuelan oil. The Pentagon has established a considerable presence in the Caribbean, deploying over 15,000 troops, including an aircraft carrier, 11 other warships, and more than a dozen F-35 fighter jets. While some of these assets can assist with enforcing sanctions, others aren’t specifically designed for maritime interdiction.
International Law Concerns and Historical Parallels
On Tuesday, the United States told the United Nations it would impose and enforce sanctions “to the maximum extent” to deprive Maduro of resources. Earlier this month, Trump ordered a “blockade” of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela, though the White House official instead used the term “quarantine,” echoing language from the 1962 Cuban missile crisis.
Robert McNamara, U.S. defence secretary under President John F. Kennedy, said in 2002: “We called it a quarantine because blockade is a word of war.” U.N. experts on Wednesday condemned the blockade, saying such use of force is recognised “as illegal armed aggression”.
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Source: Reuters
