An unnamed senior administration official says that the Trump Administration is seriously considering imposing a naval blockade on Venezuela, saying President Maduro has a “short window” to voluntarily resign before the US makes such a move.



Trump had recently told reporters he was considering a naval blockade or full “quarantine” of Venezuela as the latest effort to try to impose regime change, something the US announced it had recognized month ago but which so far hasn’t happened.



President Maduro denounced the comments, and called on his ambassador to complain to the UN Security Council about the “illegal” US threat to blockade the Venezuelan coastline. Maduro added it was “clearly illegal.”



Clearly illegal as a practical matter is likely to be very much beside the point for US policy. Previous indications were that Trump had become bored with Venezuela because of the lack of progress, and it’s likely he’ll only try to impose a regime change in this manner if he believes it will work.





Author: Jason Ditz Jason Ditz is news editor of Antiwar.com. View all posts by Jason Ditz