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The Venezuelan Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yván Gil, assured this Monday that Moscow has offered “all its cooperation” and support to the Latin American country against the blockade of oil tankers imposed by the US. Gil indicated that he had a telephone call with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, with whom he reviewed the “aggressions” and “violations” of international law by Washington, as well as the “extrajudicial executions” in the Caribbean and the “illegal acts of piracy” by the US.
China, for its part, has also accused the White House of “violating international law”, in actions that involve “an arbitrary confiscation of the ships of another country”, as expressed by the spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Lin Jian. The Chinese executive has also made it clear that his country “systematically opposes the illegal unilateral sanctions” of the US on Venezuela, and has remarked that “they lack a foundation in international law and do not have the authorization of the United Nations Security Council”. All in all, Venezuela reads it as a message from China rejecting the “unilateral hegemony” of the US.
This Saturday, in addition, the Venezuelan foreign minister also assured that he had received Iran’s offer to cooperate “in all areas” to deal with Washington’s “piracy and international terrorism”. The Venezuelan minister expressed that he had been told by his Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araghchi, in a telephone call.
The escalation of the USA with Venezuela
Since September, Washington has attacked thirty suspected narco boats, operations in which a hundred people have been killed. All in all, without yet providing public evidence to prove that the boats were indeed transporting drugs. The White House itself expressed last week, through the chief of staff, Susie Wiles, that these attacks will continue until Nicolás Maduro “surrenders”, and experts and analysts say that the strategy goes beyond drug trafficking. The real objective, they point out, is to remove Hugo Chávez’s heir from power.
In this context, attacks on suspected narco-boats in recent days have been joined by assaults on oil tankers in international waters near Venezuela. According to Washington, they violate the sanctions that the US applies unilaterally in the matter of oil trade. Late last week Trump announced a “blockade” of all sanctioned ships carrying crude oil entering and leaving the Latin American country. And over the weekend the US Coast Guard launched two new attacks to intercept oil tankers: one on Saturday, successfully, and one on Sunday, which the vessel, named Bella 1 and that it was not loaded, it managed to dodge, according to several American media.
So far, the US has not shown any opposition to a military operation in Venezuela, an assumption that, should it occur, would run counter to Trump’s pledge not to start any new military conflicts during his term. Despite this, last Friday the American president himself assured in a telephone interview with the NBC News network that he “does not rule out” a war with Nicolás Maduro’s regime. The leaders of both countries even spoke by phone in late November, but no details of the conversation have been released. In the interview on Friday, when the reporter asked him if the goal of the attacks is to overthrow Maduro, Trump did not deny it: “He knows exactly what I want.” “He knows better than anyone,” he expressed.
Washington’s influence in Latin America goes beyond the current situation in Venezuela. In the last year, the White House has multiplied and escalated interventions in countries in the south of the continent. He has shown support for certain candidates aligned with Trump’s ideology before elections are held. In the most thunderous cases and when the victory of Washington’s preferred candidates is not clear, Trump threatens the country holding elections with sanctions or the withdrawal of some bilateral agreements in case the formation that suits him best does not win. In Venezuela, he supports the opposition María Corina Machado, who has not opposed a US military intervention and who in early December the US helped leave the country and travel to Oslo to collect the Nobel Peace Prize.
Trump announces warships with his name on them
This Monday, in an appearance with the Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, and the Secretary of the Navy, John Phelan, Trump announced a new type of ships and also the manufacture of some aircraft carriers for the US military. The new boats will be built in the USA and bear his name. “Why don’t we make boats like the ones we used to make?”, he expressed during the appearance. It is not the first time that Trump has put his name at the center: for example, at the beginning of this December, the American president renamed the country’s Institute of Peace after him.
