U.S. President Donald Trump designated the government of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro a foreign terrorist organization and ordered “a total and complete” blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers moving in and out of the South American country. (Miami Herald)
In a post on social media announcing the blockade, Trump alleged Venezuela was using oil to fund drug trafficking and other crimes and vowed to escalate the U.S. military buildup in the Caribbean, reports the Guardian.
Such a blockade could devastate Venezuela’s already struggling economy, which depends on overseas oil sales, primarily to China and often on sanctioned vessels, reports the Washington Post.
Trump, however, added the qualifier “of all sanctioned oil vessels,” which appears to mean he wouldenforce existing sanctions against some of the tankers exporting oil, reports the New York Times. If the U.S. Navy continues to allow most vessels to freely enter and leave Venezuelan ports, it is not a real blockade, though any threat of seizure may be enough to scare off many companies that transport Venezuelan oil.
This week the Trump administration also declared that illicit fentanyl is a weapon of mass destruction — an escalation of the administration’s campaign against drugs, describing the synthetic opioid as “closer to a chemical weapon than a narcotic” that is fueling lawlessness in the Western Hemisphere. Experts say the characterization is a stretch, reports the Washington Post.
Trump has ratcheted up actions against Venezuela’s Maduro government in recent months. The Pentagon said it had carried out strikes on three boats it accused of trafficking drugs in the Pacific on Monday, killing eight people, one of the deadliest days since strikes against vessels started in early September. (See yesterday’s post.)
Trump and Colombia
Recent strikes against vessels have focused on the eastern Pacific, and suggest a shift in geographical focus after the initial strikes in the Caribbean and has pivoted to increasingly target Colombia, reports the New York Times.
The US has designated the Gulf Clan, Colombia’s largest and most powerful illegal armed criminal group, as a foreign terrorist organization. The move is likely to exacerbate tensions between Trump and Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who strongly opposes the US president’s actions in the Caribbean, reports the Guardian.
The designation comes after the Trump administration in September added Colombia to a list of nations failing to cooperate in the drug war for the first time in almost 30 years. It was a stinging rebuke to a traditional U.S. ally that reflects a recent surge in cocaine production and fraying ties between Trump and Petro, reports the Associated Press.
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More Donroe Doctrine
White House chief of staff Susie Wiles has suggested that the United States military’s attacks on alleged drug boats around Latin America aim to ultimately topple Maduro, in comments published yesterday in Vanity Fair. (Al Jazeera)
Even as the U.S. declared a total blockade on Venezuelan oil, it permits Chevron to operate. Chevron produces about 240,000 barrels of oil in Venezuela — more than a fifth of the country’s total — and represents a major part of the country’s economy, reports the New York Times.
Yesterday U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the Pentagon will not make public the full video of a September attack in the Caribbean that killed two individuals as they were clinging to the wreckage of a burning boat, a follow up strike that has drawn particular scrutiny from U.S. lawmakers. Experts say it might constitute a war crime. (Guardian)
Hegseth also declined to show all members of Congress the unedited video of a boat attack, amid bipartisan pressure for more transparency around the U.S. military’s operations in international waters, reports the New York Times.
“Officials in the Caribbean, who rely on security partnerships with the U.S. to combat arms and drug trafficking, have expressed concern that the strikes could imperil their economies and tourism industries, while acknowledging privately that there is little that they can do to stop them,” reports the Washington Post.
At least three writers have withdrawn from next month’s Hay festival in Cartagena, Colombia, in protest at an invitation extended to the Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel laureate María Corina Machado. The main reason cited by them is Machado’s support for Trump’s four-month pressure campaign against Maduro. (Guardian)
Migration
The United States has transferred 22 Cuban migrants to its Navy base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, reports the New York Times, repopulating its detention site with men it intends to deport for the first time in two months.
Honduras
The head of Honduras’ National Electoral Council said on Monday that protests in Tegucigalpa have delayed the start of a special recount of some of the ballots from the contested November 30 presidential election. Hundreds of supporters of the ruling leftist party LIBRE protested on Monday outside the building where ballots are being stored, reports Reuters.
Mexico
Mexican Economy Secretary Marcelo Ebrard defended Mexico’s decision to impose new tariffs on imports from China and other Asian countries, describing the move as a necessary step to protect hundreds of thousands of domestic jobs rather than a provocation to any trading partner — South China Morning Post
Costa Rica
Costa Rica’s legislature blocked an effort by the country’s electoral authority to make President Rodrigo Chaves face charges that he has been using his power to meddle in upcoming elections, reports the Associated Press.
Ecuador
Ecuador’s prison authority said 15 inmates at the Litoral prison in the city of Guayaquil were found dead, amid fears of a tuberculosis outbreak. (Reuters)
Critter Corner
Conservation efforts have restored puma numbers in Argentine Patagonia, where Magellanic penguins had in the interim established large breeding colonies, reports the New York Times. Now the pumas are eating the penguins. ¿Team Penguin or Team Puma?
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