US will focus on exerting economic pressure on Venezuela: Report

According to an unnamed US official, a Reuters news agency report citing an unnamed US official stated that the US will concentrate on pursuing sanctioned Venezuelan oil over the next two months rather than military pressure.

Even as the US continues to put pressure on the region, the White House has ordered the military to concentrate “almost exclusively on enforcing a ‘quarantine’ of Venezuelan oil,” according to the Reuters report.

The official told Reuters on Wednesday that while there are still military options, the focus should be on using economic pressure and imposing sanctions to achieve the desired result.

According to Reuters, US President Donald Trump has deployed 15, 000 troops, aircraft carriers, guided missile destroyers, and amphibious assault ships in the Caribbean over the past month.

The expansion is the largest US military deployment in the Caribbean in a long time, and it has sparked concerns that Trump might invade Venezuela under the pretense of defending the country from “narcoterrorists” and international drug cartels.

Trump mandated a “total and complete blockade” of all oil tankers that were subject to US law entering and leaving Venezuela in mid-December. According to Reuters, US forces are currently looking into a third vessel and have already apprehended two oil tankers.

Venezuela is on a lifeline because of the various US sanctions in place in Caracas since 2005. During Trump’s first term in office, sanctions on the energy sector increased significantly.

Despite the ongoing tensions, some media reports suggest that the US Coast Guard’s enforcement actions could lead to a de-escalation rather than the military.

In peacetime, the Coast Guard is regarded as a branch of US law enforcement and is a civilian organization. Under US sanctions, its agents have the right to board ships. By contrast, staging a naval blockade of Venezuela would be viewed as a war deed.

In a statement to the UN Security Council, Venezuela declared this week that the oil seizures were “worse than piracy.”

Different boats in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific, which the White House claims were bringing illegal drugs to the US, have been targeted by US forces since September.

At least 105 people have died in what the White House has described as a “non-international armed conflict” because the strikes were ordered by Trump and not by the US Congress.