President Donald Trump reportedly ordered a two-month “quarantine” of Venezuela’s oil industry as the administration continues its pressure campaign against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
Reuters first reported the order on Wednesday afternoon. Two days prior, Trump said at the White House that the U.S. Coast Guard was pursuing another tanker carrying Venezuelan oil in international waters, after seizing two tankers carrying Venezuelan oil in the Caribbean Sea.
“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,” an unnamed U.S. official told the outlet. “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.”
A U.S. official confirmed the order to the Washington Examiner.
The White House alleged that the brewing conflict with Venezuela is aimed at stopping cartels from trafficking narcotics into the United States. Since September, Trump has ordered dozens of “kinetic strikes” on boats allegedly carrying drug smugglers and narcotics in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean.
However, critics have suggested that Trump is eying a takeover of Venezuela’s oil industry.
In addition to the two outbound tankers seized off Venezuela’s coast by the U.S. military, Trump ordered a blockade of all “sanctioned oil tankers” from docking in Venezuelan ports.
Trump and other White House officials have repeatedly stated their intent to “keep” any crude oil seized from Venezuela’s sanctioned “shadow” fleet of tankers.
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“Maybe we’ll sell it, maybe we’ll keep it, maybe we’ll use it in the strategic reserve,” Trump said on Monday in Florida when asked about his plans for the millions of seized crude barrels. “We’re keeping the ships also.”
Trump has also signaled his intent to imminently expand his strikes against alleged drug boats to “land strikes” against cartel targets in Venezuela and other Latin American countries.