Truthout’s December fundraiser is our most important of the year and will determine the scale of work we will be able to do in 2026. Please support us with a tax-deductible donation today.

President Trump has ordered what he called a “total and complete blockade” of sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela, as the United States escalates pressure on the government of President Nicolás Maduro. The move comes amid a major U.S. military buildup in the region and days after U.S. forces seized an oil tanker carrying Venezuelan oil. Since September, the U.S. military has carried out at least 25 airstrikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific near Venezuela, killing at least 95 people.

The administration’s actions against Venezuela signal “the total renunciation of liberal internationalism” and further abandonment of “a world governed by common laws,” says Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and Yale University professor Greg Grandin. This comes as Latin America is on a “knife’s edge between the left and the right,” with the Trump administration eager to boost its authoritarian allies across the region, says Grandin.

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: President Trump has ordered a “total and complete blockade” of sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela, as the U.S. ramps up pressure on the government of Nicolás Maduro. The blockade comes amidst a major U.S. military buildup in the region and days after the U.S. seized an oil tanker filled with Venezuelan oil.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump wrote, quote, “Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America. It will only get bigger, and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before,” unquote.

Since September, the U.S. military has also carried out at least 25 airstrikes on alleged drug boats, without offering evidence, in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific near Venezuela, killing at least 95 people.

On Tuesday, Vanity Fair published excerpts of bombshell interviews with Trump’s Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, in which she suggested the aim of the boat strikes is to topple Maduro. Wiles said, quote, “[Trump] wants to keep on blowing boats up until Maduro cries uncle. And people way smarter than me on that say that he will,” unquote.

On Tuesday, President Maduro denounced the U.S. actions.

PRESIDENT NICOLÁS MADURO: [translated] We tell the people of the United States our truth, and it is very clear: Imperialism and the Nazi-fascist right wing want to colonize Venezuela to take our wealth — oil, gas, gold, iron, aluminum and other minerals. We have sworn to defend our homeland. And in Venezuela, peace will always prevail, along with stability and shared happiness for our people.

To the people of the United States, we say again and again, one and a thousand times: [in English] No blood for oil! No war for oil!

[translated] The claims about drug trafficking are fake news, a lie, an excuse. Since they cannot accuse us of weapons of mass destruction, chemical weapons or nuclear missiles, they invent another pretext to create another Afghanistan, another Libya. And with moral authority and with God’s blessing, I say: [in English] No more Vietnam! No more Afghanistan! No more Libya! No more Iraq! No more war eternal! No! No! No! Enough!

[translated] We know we are morally and spiritually in the right.

AMY GOODMAN: We’re joined now by the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, Yale University professor Greg Grandin. His latest book, America, América: A New History of the New World. He has a recent piece in The New York Times headlined “Trump’s Dated Strategy Is Putting Us on a Path to World War III.”

Welcome back to Democracy Now!, Professor Grandin. Can you start off by responding to what’s happening right now? We are doing this broadcast before President Trump makes his address to the nation tonight, unclear what that’s about. But talk about the latest developments with Venezuela.

GREG GRANDIN: Well, it is an unprecedented military buildup. It’s probably bigger than what the Spanish Empire sent to retake Spain in the 1820s in terms........

© Truthout