U.S. considers oil embargo on Venezuela
As elections near, options are weighed for ousting president
WASHINGTON — The White House has put a possible oil embargo against Venezuela back on the table as Trump administration insiders debate how to respond to Venezuela’s planned April elections, already dubbed by Washington as “illegitimate.”
The White House, National Security Council, State Department and Treasury Department among other agencies are studying and talking with advisers about a range of options to help drive President Nicolas Maduro from office. That includes a full embargo, prohibiting any Venezuelan oil being sold in the United States, or blocking sale of oil related products to Venezuela, according to U.S. administration officials and advisers.
The administration also is considering sanctions against Diosdado Cabello, who is seen as Venezuela’s second most powerful leader and head of the ruling socialist party, noting that Canada has already sanctioned the former military chief for human rights violations.
“The message is we will continue to ratchet up the pressure until the Maduro regime is removed and Democracy is returned to Venezuela,” a senior administration official told McClatchy.
Sharpened rhetoric
The possibility of significant upheaval in the oil markets is serious enough that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, speaking in Austin, raised the possibility of tapping U.S. oil reserves in the United States to help soften the possible impact.
Trump already has proposed selling part of the reserve, which is now 700 million barrels, and Tillerson said the endowment could be used to help regional partners and offset U.S. business losses affected by Venezuelan oil sanctions.
The administration has sharpened its rhetoric toward Venezuela over the last several weeks, from hinting at more sanctions to virtually guaranteeing significant consequences should Maduro’s government in Caracas continue to dismantle the South American country’s democratic institutions.
“Come April 22, when we expect Maduro to get re-elected because he will cheat the system and there won’t be anyone running against him, we have six more years of Maduro and that is when the United States will have to make a determination how far we want to take sanctions,” said the senior administration official.
Weighing benefits
Venezuela set a presidential election for April 22 after mediation talks between the leftist government and an opposition coalition collapsed. Opposition leaders plan to boycott what they see as a sham election to reelect Maduro.
Trump administration officials are weighing whether the long-term benefits of various oil measures outweigh what is hoped would be temporary pain to the Venezuelan people, who are already suffering. The administration is making the same calculations as it relates to temporary harm to American financial interests in order to reach longer-term national security objectives.
The United States already has put sanctions on more than 50 current and former officials and bars U.S. financial institutions from dealing with Venezuelan debt.