Why Trump Is Taking the Fight to Venezuelas Doorstep

The crude oil tanker Skipper, recently seized by the United States off the coast of Venezuela, is seen traveling in a southwesterly direction and positioned approximately 20 miles north of Guadeloupe, in the southern Caribbean Sea, on Dec. 12, 2025. ©2025 Vantor via AP‘Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest armada ever assembled in the history of South America,’ Trump said.The crude oil tanker Skipper, recently seized by the United States off the coast of Venezuela, is seen traveling in a southwesterly direction and positioned approximately 20 miles north of Guadeloupe, in the southern Caribbean Sea, on Dec. 12, 2025. ©2025 Vantor via APWhy Trump Is Taking the Fight to Venezuela’s Doorstep‘Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest armada ever assembled in the history of South America,’ Trump said.The Trump administration is tightening the net around Venezuela’s oil exports, saying that the country stole American property and that its governing regime is illegitimate.The “illegitimate Maduro regime is using oil from these stolen oil fields to finance themselves, drug terrorism, human trafficking, murder and kidnapping,” President Donald Trump said in a Dec. 16 post on Truth Social.