Communist Cuba "On Edge of Collapse" Due to Trump's Oil Embargo of Cuba's Key Ally Venezuela

Late last week, Trump seized a second Venezuelan tanker.

Now he's tracking a third tanker from the "dark fleet."

The U.S. Coast Guard is pursuing a sanctioned oil tanker near Venezuela as President Donald Trump intensifies his pressure campaign against Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro with a sweeping blockade targeting illicit oil shipments.

"The United States Coast Guard is in active pursuit of a sanctioned dark fleet vessel that is part of Venezuela's illegal sanctions evasion," a U.S. official said in a statement to Fox News' Lucas Tomlinson. "It is flying a false flag and under a judicial seizure order."

Reuters reported that another official noted the tanker was operating under sanctions and that it had not been boarded thus far. The official also said interceptions could be taken by flying or sailing near vessels of concern.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, the officials did not provide the name of the vessel or where it was operating while being pursued.

The pursuit comes days after Trump announced a "total and complete blockade" of sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela.

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A second tanker was seized by U.S. forces on Saturday, again, off the coast of Venezuela.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem said in a post on X that the U.S. Coast Guard, with assistance from the Department of War, apprehended the oil tanker during the early morning hours. The ship had last been docked in Venezuela.

This may result in Maduro's downfall.

It might also result in the downfall of the Castroist regime in Cuba. Venezuela has been sending its communist ally Cuba shipments of very subsidized oil for decades, and now those shipments are less than one-third of what they had been.

Cubans are going hungry, suffering from spreading disease and sleeping outdoors with no electricity to power fans through the sweltering nights. A quarter of the population has fled during the island's most prolonged economic crisis.
And it's about to get worse.

The U.S. is ratcheting up pressure on Havana's key benefactor, Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro's regime, which has kept the Communist-ruled nation afloat with cheap oil. Now Venezuelan oil exports are at risk thanks to a partial blockade targeting sanctioned tankers--the kind that carry about 70% of the country's crude.

One tanker that the U.S. has already seized was en route with almost two million barrels of Venezuelan oil.

The blockade adds to a U.S. pressure campaign on Maduro that also includes a major military buildup in the Caribbean, airstrikes on boats allegedly connected to Venezuelan drug trafficking and threats of bombing the country itself.

Were Venezuela's oil shipments to stop, or sharply decline, the Cubans know it would be devastating.

"It would be the collapse of the Cuban economy, no question about it," said Jorge Piñón, a Cuban exile who tracks the island's energy ties to Venezuela at the University of Texas at Austin.

Venezuela has been vital for Cuba's economy since 1999, when then-President Hugo Chávez described the two countries as bound together "in a sea of happiness." Cuba deployed sports trainers, doctors and counterintelligence agents to Venezuela, the latter to root out traitors who might overthrow Chávez.

Venezuela responded with 100,000 barrels of oil shipped to Cuba daily.

The heavily subsidized oil shipments have fallen to 30,000 barrels a day. Agents from Cuba's vaunted intelligence service remain in Venezuela, where they have worked to purge disloyal military officers and government officials, helping ensure Maduro remains ensconced in power.

Cuba's deep reliance on Venezuela means Cuba's Communist government is doing all it can to prevent Maduro--who trained in Cuba as a young man--from being forced from office in his greatest challenge after nearly 13 years in office. That means ensuring he is always surrounded by security and loyal aides, with no one carrying cellphones or other electronic devices.

"They are taking very good care of Nicolás Maduro and his immediate successors," said Thomas A. Shannon Jr., a former high-ranking U.S. diplomat who engaged frequently with the Venezuelan regime. "The Cubans are not going to go quietly into the dark night."

Is this good or bad? I'll reserve judgement until Tucker Carlson explains to me how communists are really just Friends We Haven't Met Yet.

posted by Ace at 03:32 PM

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