CARACAS, Venezuela — U.S. President Donald Trump is threating to blockade sanctioned oil tankers from Venezuela, a move that could devastate a country already wrangling with years of spiraling crisis.
Seasoned by years of political, social and economic challenges, Venezuelans on Wednesday acknowledged that the threat added to the collective anxiety over their country's future. At the same time, they were treating it like another inconvenience.
“Well, we’ve already had so many crises, shortages of so many things — food, gasoline — that one more ... well, one doesn’t worry anymore,” Milagro Viana said while waiting to catch a bus in Caracas, the capital.
Trump on Tuesday announced he was ordering a blockade of all "sanctioned oil tankers" into Venezuela, ramping up pressure on President Nicolás Maduro.
Venezuela has the world’s largest proven oil reserves and produces about 1 million barrels a day. U.S. forces last week seized a tanker off Venezuela’s coast after a buildup of forces in the region.
In a post on social media Tuesday night announcing the blockade, Trump alleged Venezuela was using oil to fund drug trafficking and other crimes. He vowed to continue the military buildup until Venezuela gives the U.S. oil, land and other assets. He wasn't specific about the basis for his claim.
Since the first Trump administration imposed punishing oil sanctions on Venezuela in 2017, Maduro’s government has used sanctioned oil tankers to smuggle the country’s crude into global supply chains.
David Smilde, a Tulane University professor who has studied Venezuela for more than three decades, said a full implementation of Trump’s threat will cause a huge economic contraction because oil represents 90% of the country’s exports.
“This is a country that traditionally imports a lot, not just finished goods, but most intermediate goods – everything from toilet paper to food containers,” Smilde said. “If you don’t have you don’t have foreign currency coming up, that just brings the whole economy to a halt.”
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