White House orders military to focus on ‘quarantine’ of Venezuelan oil
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WASHINGTON: The White House has ordered US military forces to focus almost exclusively on enforcing a “quarantine” of Venezuelan oil for at least the next two months, a US official told Reuters on Wednesday (Dec 24), signalling that Washington is prioritising economic pressure over direct military action against Caracas.
“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, speaking on condition of anonymity.
President Donald Trump has been publicly vague about his precise aims regarding Venezuela, but has privately pressed President Nicolas Maduro to leave power, Reuters has reported. Trump said on Monday it would be “smart” for Maduro to step down.
“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 US,” the official said.
US SEEKING TO SEIZE THIRD VESSEL
Trump has accused Venezuela of flooding the United States with drugs. His administration has for months carried out strikes on boats originating in South America that it alleges were carrying narcotics, attacks condemned by several countries as extrajudicial killings.
Trump has also threatened to bomb drug infrastructure on land and has authorised covert CIA activity directed at Caracas.
So far this month, the US Coast Guard has intercepted two tankers in the Caribbean Sea, both fully loaded with Venezuelan crude. The White House comments followed a Reuters report that the Coast Guard was waiting for additional forces to attempt a third seizure against an empty sanctioned vessel known as the Bella-1, after an initial effort on Sunday.
Venezuela’s UN ambassador Samuel Moncada said on Tuesday: “The threat is not Venezuela. The threat is the US government.”
HUGE US MILITARY PRESENCE IN CARIBBEAN
The White House official did not clarify how the military would focus “almost exclusively” on interdicting Venezuelan oil. The US military operates globally, and many of its missions and capabilities are unrelated to maritime interdiction.
The Pentagon has built up a major military presence in the Caribbean, with more than 15,000 troops, including an aircraft carrier, 11 other warships and more than a dozen F-35 fighter jets. While some assets can assist with sanctions enforcement, others are not suited to that role.
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 what he called a “blockade” of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela. The White House official’s use of the term “quarantine” echoes language used during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, when the administration of President John F. Kennedy avoided the term blockade to reduce the risk of escalation.
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