One of them, now a defense analyst says, Trump's order to blockade Venezuela is consistent with the reestablishment of a 19th Century U.S. foreign policy regarding the western hemisphere. Doing so could ultimately lead to a free Venezuela, a retired Air Force general says.
Trump is ramping up pressure against Venezuelan dictator Nicholas Maduro with his ordering of a blockade of all "sanctioned oil tankers" into the South American country. The move is clearly designed to put a tighter chokehold on the Venezuelan economy.
Trump's escalation comes after U.S. forces last week seized an oil tanker off Venezuela's coast.
Bob Maginnis is a national defense analyst and president of Maginnis Strategies, LLC.
“Typically, a blockade is an act of war. So, are we indeed declaring war on Venezuela? It would appear that by labeling the drug cartels in Colombia and in Venezuela and elsewhere as terrorist organizations that you're elevating what we can do against these efforts."
China and Russia have criticized the blockade but at present have not pledged military action against it.
Maginnis says it appears Trump’s goal is regime change.
“Ultimately, we want Maduro gone. We want the lady that was elected to be the president of Venezuela installed. We want the cartels gone, and we want them to stop shipping fentanyl, cocaine and other deadly drugs into the United States. We want the Russians, the Chinese out of our hemisphere."
The lady is Maria Corina Machado, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize earlier this month.
Machado (shown right) won an opposition primary election and intended to challenge Maduro in last year’s presidential election, but the government barred her from running for office. Retired diplomat Edmundo González took her place, The Associated Press reported.
The lead-up to the July 28, 2024, election saw widespread repression, including disqualifications, arrests and human rights violations. That increased after the country’s National Electoral Council, which is stacked with Maduro loyalists, declared the incumbent the winner.
"The important thing to remember here is that the Maduro regime, the federal government in Venezuela, makes 70-90% of the revenue from oil exports. So, we're basically cutting their federal government's budget in half by this blockade and the announcement by the president,” retired Air Force Gen. John Teichert said on Washington Watch this week.
Teichert hopes that the pressure will convince Maduro to take the hint.
"The pressure that we now have seen by the seizing of that individual tanker and then now almost the complete shut off of oil import and most importantly, export from Venezuela is providing significant pressure that proves to Maduro that he, President Trump, is serious. Hopefully, Maduro will take the hint and make the decision that now it's in his best interest to leave the situation and pass the government back to the people of Venezuela."
Maginnis says the blockade is consistent with the president's national security strategy.
"He really establishes what I would call the 21st century Monroe Doctrine, which basically says the hemisphere is an American hemisphere. It's not a Chinese, Russian, Iranian or any other hemisphere."
