Vivian Salama
to Donald Trump, Venezuela was first all about narcotics. Now it is all about narcotics, oil, and the theft of American assets.
In the past week, Trump has added to his pressure campaign on President Nicolás Maduro by targeting the economic lifeblood of the regime: oil exports. The U.S. has seized three oil tankers in 11 days after Trump said on Truth Social that the United States was imposing a “TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE” of tankers carrying Venezuelan oil that are subject to U.S. sanctions. The president added that the U.S. would also seek compensation for American assets that the Venezuelan government has seized, an apparent reference to past bouts of oil-industry nationalization by Caracas.
The new focus on Venezuela’s most abundant—and valuable—natural resource (the country has the largest estimated oil reserves in the world) was, in some ways, the clearest articulation yet of Trump’s ultimate aim. And some viewed the mention of a blockade as tantamount to a declaration of war, given that a blockade is recognized by international law as a belligerent act.
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