Rubio says U.S. will keep military 'quarantine' on Venezuela oil exports

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Sunday that the United States will maintain a military "quarantine" on Venezuela’s oil exports to pressure the country’s new leadership, appearing to pivot from President Trump’s recent remark that the U.S. would "run" Venezuela. Rubio told CBS’s Face the Nation that U.S.

forces will continue to prevent oil tankers on a U.S. sanctions list from entering and leaving Venezuela until the government opens its state-controlled oil industry to foreign investment and makes other changes. He said the U.S. naval force massed in the Caribbean would remain to enforce the quasi-blockade and aim to "paralyze" the regime’s revenue stream.

A White House official said Rubio had explained what Mr. Trump meant by "run" and that there was no contradiction between their remarks. The interviews came amid recent U.S. actions against Venezuelan shipping: U.S. forces boarded two tankers last month, the Skipper—on a Treasury sanctions list and subject to a federal seizure warrant—and the Centuries, which was not on the sanctions list.

The Coast Guard has pursued another tanker, the Bella 1, which changed its flag to Russia and was the subject of a formal Russian request on Dec. 31 that the U.S. stop the chase. The reporting also notes that China is the largest foreign investor in Venezuela’s oil sector and that Chinese private companies buy about 80 percent of the country’s oil exports.

Key Topics

Politics, Marco Rubio, Venezuela, Venezuelan Oil, Donald Trump, U.s. Navy