The United States increases pressure on Venezuela
The United States is stepping up pressure on Venezuela.
After granting military protection to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado so that she could travel with her family to Norway after being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, US President Donald Trump warned the Venezuelan regime led by Nicolás Maduro about the possible arrest of the Venezuelan opposition leader.
María Corina Machado, present in Oslo with her family after more than 13 years without leaving her country and more than a year living in hiding, announced that she will only return to her nation when the necessary security conditions are in place, regardless of whether Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro remains in power. She made these statements after indicating that democracy and freedom must return to Venezuela and promising to liberate Venezuela from the current Bolivarian regime.
Precisely because of the situation in Venezuelan politics, Donald Trump warned Nicolás Maduro about the possible arrest of María Corina Machado upon her return to the South American nation, in order to prevent this action from taking place. ‘I would not be happy with that,’ said the US president.
There has even been speculation for days about a possible US ground intervention in Venezuelan territory, something that has not yet been completely denied by either the US government or the Venezuelan opposition, which increases the existing pressure between the United States and Venezuela.
At the moment, along with political pressure and explicit support for the main Venezuelan opposition figure, María Corina Machado, the United States has been exerting significant military pressure by land and air for some time. In recent hours, the US Army has entered Venezuelan airspace and the US Navy has intercepted a large tanker carrying Venezuelan oil, the largest ever seized, according to the Trump administration.
US F-18 fighter jets entered Venezuelan airspace and flew over the Gulf of Venezuela for 40 minutes, about 150 kilometres from Maracaibo, the capital of Zulia state. This, combined with the intervention of the Venezuelan mega-tanker, has led to increased political and diplomatic tension between the two nations. ‘We will continue to fly safely, professionally and in accordance with international law to monitor illegal activities and support stability in the Americas,’ an anonymous US official told Anadolu Agency. The Venezuelan army did not respond militarily to these incursions, but the escalation of tension is palpable.
All this is part of an operation that the United States has been carrying out for weeks to put an end to alleged drug trafficking activities linked to the current Venezuelan state and to prevent the trade in Venezuelan crude oil, which is subject to US sanctions affecting a basic pillar of the Venezuelan economy, namely oil trade.
Pressure on Nicolás Maduro's family
Along with the recent new sanctions against shipping companies and vessels involved in oil trafficking, the US Treasury Department has included three nephews of Nicolás Maduro's wife, Cilia Flores, as well as a businessman close to the Venezuelan regime, on the list of those sanctioned. This situation directly affects the Venezuelan president personally.
The US Treasury Department indicated that six vessels participated in the illicit maritime transport that provided financial benefits to the government of Nicolás Maduro. Four of the vessels are Panamanian-flagged and the other two are from the Cook Islands and Hong Kong.
Therefore, the pressure exerted for months by the Trump administration on Venezuela continues to increase, including the deployment of thousands of troops and an aircraft carrier strike group to the Caribbean, offensives against ships allegedly linked to drug trafficking, and political threats against the Venezuelan regime led by Nicolás Maduro.