The President of the United States, Donald Trump, announced that he has ordered a total blockade of all oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela, while intensifying pressure on his South American counterpart, Nicolás Maduro.
"Today I order the total and complete blockade of all sanctioned tankers entering and leaving Venezuela," Trump wrote on his Truth Social network.
Last week, the Trump administration seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela and announced sanctions against three of Maduro's wife's nephews, as well as a businessman close to the leader and six other oil-transporting companies.
For nearly four months, the United States maintained a significant military presence in the Caribbean, largely off the coast of Venezuela, to combat the alleged drug trafficking, according to the Argentine News Agency.
In turn, the Venezuelan government denounced the U.S. military campaign as a covert attempt to force a regime change in Caracas.
Since then, the Pentagon has sunk more than 25 suspected drug trafficking vessels in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific, causing the deaths of at least 95 people.
