US President Donald Trump's blockade of all “sanctioned oil tankers“ to Venezuela is a major topic in the American and British press this morning.
Such a blockade could devastate Venezuela's already struggling economy, which depends on oil sales abroad, mainly through sanctioned ships, writes the „Washington Post“.
The move further increases the pressure that President Donald Trump is putting on Venezuela at a time when the United States is trying to force Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro to leave the country and is threatening military action if he does not, the newspaper points out.
Trump also declared the Venezuelan „regime“ a foreign terrorist organization and accused government officials of using oil to enrich themselves and finance narcoterrorism, writes the „Washington Post“. However, it is not clear from Trump's post whether he is declaring a new foreign terrorist organization or referring to the recently sanctioned "Cartel de los Soles", which the administration claims is led by Maduro and other Venezuelan government officials, the publication notes.
Trump made these statements a week after the United States seized a sanctioned oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, which was transporting oil to Cuba, the British newspaper "Telegraph" reports.
The US Treasury Department announced last Thursday that it was imposing sanctions on six supertankers that had recently loaded crude oil in Venezuela, the newspaper said, adding that if they were also seized, it would paralyze Venezuelan oil exports, which would further increase pressure on Maduro.
It is not clear how the Trump administration will enforce the blockade against sanctioned ships and whether he will use the coast guard to detain the ships, as he did last week, or use the military forces massed in the Caribbean Sea, writes the „Guardian“.
In addition, although many of the ships transporting oil from Venezuela are sanctioned, others are not, and some companies, notably the US „Chevron“, transport Venezuelan oil with their own ships that hold special permits, the publication notes.
Since at least 2019, when Trump began supporting efforts to overthrow Maduro, he has said both privately and publicly that the US should take Venezuela's oil, writes the „New York Times“.
Earlier this year, Trump sent an envoy to negotiate with Maduro about access to the oil of Venezuela, and the main opposition leader in Venezuela, Maria Corina Machado, has promised Trump's associates and allies that if he comes to power, he will open the country to American investment, the newspaper said.
In his statement last night, Trump wrote that the blockade of oil tankers traveling to and from Venezuela will remain in effect "until they return all the oil, land and other assets that were stolen from us," the New York Times reported. It is not clear what territories and other assets Trump is claiming, but the president's rhetoric is another reminder that Venezuela's oil and gas reserves are one of the central reasons for the US administration's belligerent stance towards the South American country, the publication commented.