The United States government has significantly intensified its economic and military pressure on Venezuela’s leadership through a multi-faceted approach targeting the nation’s oil sector and alleged drug trafficking operations. On Wednesday, Washington implemented comprehensive sanctions against four maritime vessels and their operating companies within Venezuela’s petroleum industry, designating them as blocked property under U.S. jurisdiction.
This strategic move represents the latest development in the Trump administration’s sustained campaign against President Nicolás Maduro’s government. The sanctioned entities—Nord Star, Lunar Tide, Rosalind, and Della—along with their corporate operators, now face complete exclusion from the U.S. financial system and property holdings. Any individuals or institutions conducting business with these designated entities risk facing severe penalties themselves.
Concurrently, U.S. military forces have executed maritime interdictions, seizing two oil tankers near Venezuelan territorial waters while actively pursuing additional vessels. More dramatically, American forces have conducted over thirty separate engagements against suspected narcotics trafficking operations, resulting in approximately 110 casualties since early September according to official reports.
In an unprecedented escalation marking the first confirmed direct operation on Venezuelan soil, the Central Intelligence Agency orchestrated a drone strike last week targeting a docking facility allegedly utilized by drug cartels. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent emphasized the administration’s position, stating the U.S. will prevent the ‘illegitimate Maduro regime’ from profiting from oil exports while allegedly ‘flooding the United States with deadly drugs.’
President Trump has declared a comprehensive blockade against all sanctioned oil tankers operating in Venezuelan waters while demanding restitution for assets previously seized from American petroleum corporations. The administration maintains that Venezuela’s current leadership utilizes oil revenues to fund narcotics trafficking and other criminal enterprises.