US forces to focus on ‘quarantining’ Venezuelan oil
The White House has ordered US military forces to focus almost exclusively on “quarantining” Venezuelan oil for at least the next two months, a US official said.
“While military options are still available, the focus is primarily on using economic pressure by imposing sanctions to achieve the outcome the White House is seeking,” the official told Reuters on Wednesday.
The statement could reduce the possibility of an immediate U.S. ground attack on Venezuela, which President Donald Trump has repeatedly said could happen.
The White House order for U.S. forces is to focus “almost exclusively on quarantining Venezuelan oil for at least the next two months,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
“The efforts so far have put tremendous pressure on (Venezuelan President Nicolas) Maduro, and the belief is that Venezuela will face an economic disaster by the end of January unless it agrees to make significant concessions to the United States,” the official said.
The Trump administration said the attacks on ships in international waters near Venezuela in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea were aimed at stopping the flow of drugs to the United States and increasing pressure on the South American country’s president.
At least 105 people have lost their lives in 29 known attacks since the beginning of September.
The attacks have drawn scrutiny from U.S. lawmakers and human rights activists, who say the administration has offered little evidence that its targets were actually drug traffickers and say the deadly attacks amount to extrajudicial killings.
