| |
Trump Warns Maduro on Playing 'Tough' 12/23 06:08
President Donald Trump on Monday delivered a new warning to Venezuelan
President Nicols Maduro as the U.S. Coast Guard steps up efforts to interdict
oil tankers in the Caribbean Sea as part of the Republican administration's
escalating pressure campaign on the government in Caracas.
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- President Donald Trump on Monday delivered a
new warning to Venezuelan President Nicols Maduro as the U.S. Coast Guard
steps up efforts to interdict oil tankers in the Caribbean Sea as part of the
Republican administration's escalating pressure campaign on the government in
Caracas.
Trump was surrounded by his top national security aides, Secretary of State
Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, as he suggested that he remains
ready to further escalate his four-month pressure campaign on the Maduro
government, which began with the stated purpose of stemming the flow of illegal
drugs from the South American nation but has developed into something more
amorphous.
"If he wants to do something, if he plays tough, it'll be the last time
he'll ever be able to play tough," Trump said of Maduro as he took a break from
his Florida holiday vacation to announce plans for the Navy to build a new,
large warship.
Trump levied his latest threat as the U.S. Coast Guard on Monday continued
for a second day to chase a sanctioned oil tanker that the Trump administration
describes as part of a "dark fleet" Venezuela is using to evade U.S. sanctions.
The tanker, according to the White House, is flying under a false flag and is
under a U.S. judicial seizure order.
"It's moving along and we'll end up getting it," Trump said.
It is the third tanker pursued by the Coast Guard, which on Saturday seized
a Panama-flagged vessel called Centuries that U.S. officials said was part of
the Venezuelan shadow fleet.
The Coast Guard, with assistance from the Navy, seized a sanctioned tanker
called Skipper on Dec. 10, also part of the shadow fleet of tankers that the
U.S. says operates on the fringes of the law to move sanctioned cargo. That
ship was registered in Panama.
Trump, after that first seizure, said the U.S. would carry out a "blockade"
of Venezuela. Trump has repeatedly said that Maduro's days in power are
numbered.
Last week, Trump demanded that Venezuela return assets that it seized from
U.S. oil companies years ago, justifying anew his announcement of a blockade
against sanctioned oil tankers traveling to or from the South American country.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, whose agency oversees the Coast
Guard, said in a Monday appearance on "Fox & Friends" that the targeting of
tankers is intended to send "a message around the world that the illegal
activity that Maduro is participating in cannot stand, he needs to be gone, and
that we will stand up for our people."
Russian diplomats evacuate families from Caracas
Meanwhile, Russia's Foreign Ministry started evacuating the families of
diplomats from Venezuela, according to a European intelligence official
speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive information.
The official told The Associated Press the evacuations include women and
children and began on Friday, adding that Russian Foreign Ministry officials
are assessing the situation in Venezuela in "very grim tones." The ministry
said in an X posting that it was not evacuating the embassy but did not address
queries about whether it was evacuating the families of diplomats.
Venezuela's Foreign Minister Yvn Gil on Monday said he spoke by phone with
his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, who he said expressed Russia's support
for Venezuela against Trump's declared blockade of sanctioned oil tankers.
"We reviewed the aggressions and flagrant violations of international law
that have been committed in the Caribbean: attacks against vessels and
extrajudicial executions, and the unlawful acts of piracy carried out by the
United States government," Gil said in a statement.
The scene on a Venezuelan beach near a refinery
While U.S. forces targeted the vessels in international waters over the
weekend, a tanker that's considered part of the shadow fleet was spotted moving
between Venezuelan refineries, including one about three hours west of the
capital, Caracas.
The tanker remained at the refinery in El Palito through Sunday, when
families went to the town's beach to relax with children now on break from
school.
Music played on loudspeakers as people swam and surfed with the tanker in
the background. Families and groups of teenagers enjoyed themselves, but Manuel
Salazar, who has parked cars at the beach for more than three decades, noticed
differences from years past, when the country's oil-dependent economy was in
better shape and the energy industry produced at least double the current 1
million barrels per day.
"Up to nine or 10 tankers would wait out there in the bay. One would leave,
another would come in," Salazar, 68, said. "Now, look, one."
The tanker in El Palito has been identified by Transparencia Venezuela, an
independent watchdog promoting government accountability, to be part of the
shadow fleet.
Area residents on Sunday recalled when tankers would sound their horns at
midnight New Year's Eve, while some would even send up fireworks to celebrate
the holiday.
"Before, during vacations, they'd have barbecues; now all you see is bread
with bologna," Salazar said of Venezuelan families spending the holiday at the
beach next to the refinery. "Things are expensive. Food prices keep going up
and up every day."
Venezuela's ruling party-controlled National Assembly on Monday gave initial
approval to a measure that would criminalize a broad range of activities that
could be linked to the seizure of oil tankers.
Lawmaker Giuseppe Alessandrello, who introduced the bill, said people could
be fined and imprisoned for up to 20 years for promoting, requesting,
supporting, financing or participating in "acts of piracy, blockades or other
international illegal acts against" commercial entities operating with the
South American country.
The Defense Department, under Trump's orders, continues its campaign of
attacks on smaller vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean that it
alleges are carrying drugs to the United States and beyond.
At least 105 people have been killed in 29 known strikes since early
September. The strikes have faced scrutiny from U.S. lawmakers and human rights
activists, who say the administration has offered scant evidence that its
targets are indeed drug smugglers and that the fatal strikes amount to
extrajudicial killings.
|
|
