"Trump declared Venezuela's government to be a "Foreign Terrorist Organization," or FTO, on Tuesday when he announced the blockade. Trump on Nov. 24 slapped an FTO designation on the Cartel de los Soles, which the Department of Justice accused Maduro of running in 2020 when he was indicted for alleged cocaine trafficking. Venezuela's oil ministry, known by its initials in Spanish as PDVSA, has been under U.S. sanctions since 2019."
"Called Operation Southern Spear, the unprecedented U.S. armada off Venezuela's shores began as a drug interdiction effort that so far has resulted in the destruction of 28 boatsthat allegedly were running cocaine, and the killing of at least 104 people."
""Maduro just does not know who he's messing with," a Trump adviser told Axios on Friday."
Operation Southern Spear deployed a U.S. armada off Venezuela that began as a drug interdiction effort and has led to the destruction of vessels and at least 104 deaths. The U.S. seized a sanctioned ship carrying about 1.9 million barrels of Venezuelan crude and announced a blockade. The U.S. designated Venezuela's government and the Cartel de los Soles as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and has maintained sanctions on PDVSA since 2019. Maduro dispatched two unsanctioned tankers bound for China, which analysts interpret as a cautious act of defiance and a potential legal target for seizure.
Read at Axios
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