WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump is meeting with top national security officials Monday, a meeting that comes as the U.S. Coast Guard steps up efforts to interdict oil tankers in the Caribbean Sea as part of the Republican administration’s campaign to increase pressure on the government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Navy Secretary John Phelan are scheduled to join Trump, who is vacationing at his Mar-a-Lago resort, for what the White House called a “major announcement.” Trump plans to discuss a shipbuilding initiative at the event, according to a White House official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
But Trump’s gathering of key members of his national security team also comes at another turning point in his four-month campaign to pressure Maduro’s government, which began with the stated goal of stemming the flow of illegal drugs from the South American nation but has become somewhat more amorphous.
Russia’s foreign ministry has begun evacuating the families of diplomats from Venezuela, according to a European intelligence official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive information.
The official told The Associated Press that the evacuations included women and children and began on Friday, adding that Russian Foreign Ministry officials were assessing the situation in Venezuela in “very gloomy tones.” The White House and the Kremlin did not respond to requests for comment.
Venezuela’s Foreign Minister Yván Gil said Monday he spoke by phone with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, who he said expressed Russia’s support for Venezuela against Trump’s declared blockade of sanctioned oil tankers.
“We looked at the aggressions and flagrant violations of international law that have been committed in the Caribbean: attacks against ships and extrajudicial killings and illegal acts of piracy by the United States government,” Gil said in a statement.
More than 10 vehicles with diplomatic license plates were parked in front of the Russian embassy in Caracas on Monday morning. No people were seen entering or leaving the embassy. All vehicles moved by early afternoon.
The US is tracking a shadow fleet of tankers
In the Caribbean, the US Coast Guard continued for a second day on Monday to pursue a sanctioned oil tanker that the Trump administration describes as part of a “dark fleet” that Venezuela uses to evade US sanctions. The tanker, the official added, is flying a false flag and is under a US judicial seizure order.
It is the third tanker tracked by the Coast Guard, which on Saturday seized a Panama-flagged vessel called the Centuries that US officials said was part of Venezuela’s shadow fleet.
The Coast Guard, with assistance from the Navy, on December 10 seized a sanctioned tanker called the Skipper, which is also part of the shadow fleet of tankers that the US says is operating within the bounds of the law to transport sanctioned goods. That vessel was registered in Panama.
Trump, after the first capture, said the US would impose a “blockade” on Venezuela. Trump has repeatedly said Maduro’s days in power are numbered.
Last week, Trump demanded Venezuela return assets it seized from US oil companies years ago, again justifying his announcement of a blockade against sanctioned oil tankers traveling to or from the South American country.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, whose agency oversees the Coast Guard, said in an appearance Monday on “Fox & Friends” that the targeting of the tanks is meant to send “a message to the entire world that the illegal activity that Maduro is participating in cannot stand, he must go, and that we will stand up for our people.”
The scene on a beach in Venezuela near a refinery
As US forces targeted the vessels in international waters, a tanker believed to be part of the shadow fleet was seen moving between Venezuelan refineries, including one about three hours west of the capital, Caracas.
The tanker remained at the refinery in El Palito until Sunday, when families went to the town’s beach to relax with children now on break from school.
Music played over the speakers as people swam and tanked in the background. Families and groups of teenagers rejoiced, but Manuel Salazar, who has parked cars on the beach for more than three decades, noticed differences from years past, when the country’s oil-dependent economy was in better shape and the energy industry was producing at least double the current 1 million barrels a day.
“Up to nine or 10 tanks would be waiting there in the bay. One would leave, another would come in,” Salazar, 68, said. “Now, look, one.”
El Palito oil has been identified by Transparencia Venezuela, an independent watchdog that promotes government accountability, as part of the shadow fleet.
Residents in the area on Sunday recalled tanks sounding their horns at midnight on New Year’s Eve, while some even sent off fireworks to celebrate the holiday.
“They used to have barbecues on vacation; now all you see is bologna bread,” Salazar said of Venezuelan families vacationing on the beach near the refinery. “Things are expensive. Food prices keep going up and up every day.”
Meanwhile, the Department of Defense, under Trump’s orders, continues its campaign of attacks on smaller ships in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific that it claims are transporting drugs to the United States and beyond.
At least 104 people have been killed in 28 known strikes since early September. The strikes have faced scrutiny from US lawmakers and rights activists, who say the administration has provided little evidence that its targets are indeed drug traffickers and that the fatal strikes amount to extrajudicial killings.
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Garcia Cano reported from El Palito, Venezuela, and Burrows reported from London.