As per reports, the administration has reportedly intensified pressure on Venezuela by expanding sanctions and maritime enforcement actions targeting the country’s oil sector, which remains Venezuela’s primary source of national revenue as of Wednesday (17 December).

• Thousands of demonstrators in Caracas have reportedly protested these measures, expressing concern that restrictions on oil exports and tanker movements are expected to further weaken economic conditions, public services, and household livelihoods.
• President Donald Trump has publicly demanded that Venezuela return assets seized from the US oil companies during past nationalisation processes, arguing that compensation previously offered was inadequate.
• He has cited these unresolved disputes, alongside allegations that the Maduro administration facilitates international drug trafficking, as justification for a strengthened sanctions regime and what he has described as a ‘blockade’ affecting oil tankers already under United States sanctions.
• Maritime enforcement actions have reportedly already led to the seizure of at least one oil tanker off Venezuela’s coast, with reports that other sanctioned vessels are diverting away from Venezuelan ports to avoid enforcement.
• The US has also increased its military presence in surrounding waters and conducted interdiction operations against suspected drug trafficking vessels in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean.