ANALYSIS — Two words have been missing from the Trump administration’s tough-talking, Navy-deploying policy toward Venezuela: or else.
While President Donald Trump and some top aides have expressed deep concerns about Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who controversially rose to power in 2013 following the death of Hugo Chávez, they have stopped short of endorsing regime change or demanding he give up power no matter what, signaling a murky — at best — policy endgame.
The Trump administration, in recent months, has tried to weaken Maduro’s hand by slapping new sanctions on his country’s oil sector and members of his family. Trump has ordered American forces to “kill” drug traffickers in the Caribbean whom he claims have been moving illegal narcotics from Venezuela to the U.S. And last week, U.S. military forces took control of a sanctioned tanker off the Venezuelan coast — with Trump vowing to keep the oil inside the massive vessel. Administration officials have said additional tanker takeovers were possible if they determined that sanctioned oil was onboard.
