US 'Defends' Maritime Freedom, Seizes Third Venezuelan Tanker
The US Coast Guard, fresh off intercepting two laden oil tankers, now targets an empty ship heading *to* Venezuela. Axios frames this as clamping down on 'rogue oil vessels,' despite one of the previously seized ships, the Centuries , not even being on the sanctions list. The article quotes a 'senior administration official' justifying the invasions under a 2002 agreement with Panama and Panama's
pro-US, anti-Maduro president. Coincidentally, the US has a long, storied history of installing pro-US leaders in Latin America to 'ensure stability' and 'promote democracy.' (See: Chile 1973, Guatemala 1954, etc.). We’re told this is part of Trump’s new National Security Strategy to 'dominate the Western Hemisphere.' Funny, a 'national security strategy' often sounds an awful lot like the Monroe
Doctrine with extra steps. When the US objects to Russian ships docking in Cuba, it's a 'threat to national security.' When the US blockades a sovereign nation's oil trade, it's 'democracy promotion.' How many nations must be economically strangled to ensure Washington's version of 'freedom' prevails?