China Responds to Trump’s Revived Monroe Doctrine |
Welcome back to Foreign Policy’s Latin America Brief.
The highlights this week: China releases a new strategy paper on Latin America amid U.S. threats to Venezuela, a right-wing candidate wins Chile’s presidential election, and a soccer corruption scandal rocks Argentina.
Welcome back to Foreign Policy’s Latin America Brief.
The highlights this week: China releases a new strategy paper on Latin America amid U.S. threats to Venezuela, a right-wing candidate wins Chile’s presidential election, and a soccer corruption scandal rocks Argentina.
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This week, U.S. President Donald Trump announced a naval blockade on sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela. In a social media post on Tuesday, Trump said that Venezuela was using oil revenue to fund drug violence and alleged that it stole oil from the United States.
The announcement adds to the existing U.S. pressure campaign against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, which has already included military strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean, sanctions, and a terrorist designation for a Venezuelan crime group.
Trump has offered various justifications for U.S. action, including claims that he aims to fight drug trafficking and that Maduro’s government engages in human trafficking and is “illegitimate.” White House chief of staff Susie Wiles told Vanity Fair this week that Trump’s main goal is for Maduro to cry “uncle.”
Of the Trump administration’s actions, the blockade poses the greatest potential harm to Venezuelan civilians. Oil is responsible for more than half of Venezuela’s fiscal revenue. An estimated 40 percent of tankers transporting Venezuelan oil in recent years are under U.S. sanctions. Multiple ships have turned away from the country since last week, FP’s Keith Johnson writes.
Trump’s announcement came after his new National Security Strategy pledged to take aggressive action against drug trafficking and to maintain U.S. access to critical supply chains in the Western Hemisphere.
Meanwhile, China published its own