Amid increasing tension between the U.S. and Venezuela with new U.S. economic sanctions announced on December 11 and the U.S. military’s seizure of the previously sanctioned oil tanker (The Skipper) on the high seas late on December 10, the major news focus of that week was not the positioning of more U.S. military assets in the Southern Caribbean, but the massive political and ethical boost provided for Venezuela’s opposition leader María Corina Machado via her Nobel Peace Prize, also awarded on December 10, in Oslo. This served to highlight domestic and global advocacy for democratic reforms in Venezuela as the world again came to grips with the country’s stolen 2024 presidential elections, leaving leftist regime strongman Nicolas Maduro clinging to power as a clearly illegitimate “President” that nobody, so far, is willing to force into calling fresh elections.
https://www.neglobal.eu/venezuela-seizures-sanctions-and-now-a-u-s-oil-blockade/