Americast – How far will Trump go in his “war” with Venezuela?
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What’s going on between the USA and Venezuela? The Trump administration is defending the seizure of an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela. Dramatic video shared by the US Attorney General shows armed, camouflaged soldiers swinging from ropes from low-flying helicopters and running across the deck of the ship. The US alleges the tanker was used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran as part of “an illicit oil transportation network that supports foreign terrorist organizations.” In response, the Venezuelan government called the seizure blatant theft, claiming that Trump was after the country’s rich oil and energy resources. In this episode, Sarah and Justin talk about how far Donald Trump wants to go in his ongoing campaign against Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro. In recent months, the US president has accused Maduro of “forcing” criminals into the US and facilitating drug trafficking, which Maduro has denied. And this week, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth defended the killing of more than 80 people in US military strikes on alleged drug boats as “the Al Qaeda of our hemisphere.” The Americast team is also looking at how this fits in with other South American countries; Trump recently offered a ‘full and complete pardon’ to former president of Honduras Juan Orlando Hernández. PRESENTERS: • Justin Webb, Radio 4 presenter • Sarah Smith, North America Editor CONTACT: • Join our online community: https://discord.gg/qSrxqNcmRB • Send us a message or voice note via WhatsApp to +44 330 123 9480 • Email Americast@bbc.co.uk • Or use #Americast This episode is written by George Dabby, Alix Pickles and Produced in collaboration with Grace Reeve. The technical producer was Michael Regaard. The producer of the series is Purvee Pattni. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham. If you would like to be notified every time we publish a new episode, please subscribe to us on BBC Sounds by pressing the subscribe button in the app. You can now listen to Americast on your smart speaker. If you want to listen, just say “Ask BBC Sounds to play Americast.” Works on most smart speakers. US Election Not Turned: Sign up for Anthony’s BBC newsletter: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-68093155 Americast is part of the BBC News Podcasts family of podcasts. The team that makes Americast also produces many other podcasts, including Newscast and Ukrainecast. If you enjoyed Americast (and if you’re reading this, I hope you do), we think you’ll enjoy our other capsules, too. See the links below. News broadcast: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/series/p05299nl Ukrainian broadcast: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p0bqztzm Radical: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p0gg4k6r Global Story: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/w13xtvsd
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