WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump will meet with top national security officials on Monday, a meeting that comes as the U.S. Coast Guard steps up efforts to intercept oil tankers in the Caribbean as part of the Republican administration’s escalating pressure on the government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Navy Secretary John Phelan plan to join Trump, who is vacationing at Mar-a-Lago, for what the White House calls a “big announcement.” A White House official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Trump plans to discuss a shipbuilding program at the event. The official was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
But Trump’s summons of key members of his national security team also comes at another turning point in Trump’s four-month pressure campaign on Maduro’s government, which began with the stated purpose of stemming the flow of illegal drugs from the South American country but has grown into something more intangible.
A European intelligence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive information, said the Russian Foreign Ministry had begun evacuating the families of diplomats from Venezuela.
The official told The Associated Press that the evacuations included women and children and began on Friday. Russian foreign ministry officials are assessing the situation in Venezuela in a “very serious tone,” the official said. The White House and the Kremlin did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In the Caribbean, the U.S. Coast Guard pursued a sanctioned oil tanker for a second day on Monday that the Trump administration said was part of a “dark fleet” used by Venezuela to evade U.S. sanctions. The official added that the tanker flew under a false flag and had been served with a U.S. judicial seizure order.
It is the third ship pursued by the Coast Guard, which on Saturday seized a Panamanian-flagged ship called Centuries that U.S. officials said was part of Venezuela’s shadow fleet.
The Coast Guard, with assistance from the Navy, seized a sanctioned oil tanker named Skipper on December 10, which was also part of the shadow tanker fleet, which the United States said was illegally transporting sanctioned cargo at the margins of the law. The vessel is registered in Panama.
Trump said after the first seizure that the United States would impose a “blockade” on Venezuela. Trump has repeatedly said Maduro’s days in power are numbered.
Last week, Trump demanded that Venezuela return assets seized from U.S. oil companies years ago, again justifying his announcement of a “blockade” of sanctioned oil tankers in and out of the South American country.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who oversees the Coast Guard, said on “Fox & Friends” on Monday that the attacks on the tankers were intended to “send a message to the world that the illegal activities Maduro is involved in will not be tolerated, he needs to step down, and we will stand up for our people.”
Meanwhile, on orders from Trump, the Defense Department continues to launch attacks on small vessels in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific that it says are transporting drugs to the United States and beyond.
Since early September, there have been 28 known attacks that have killed at least 104 people. The attacks have drawn scrutiny from U.S. lawmakers and human rights activists, who say the government has provided little evidence that its targets were indeed drug smugglers and that the deadly attacks amounted to extrajudicial killings.
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Burrows reported from London.
