Anatoly Kurmanaev

Thank you for having me.

We have seen major shifts in the narrative over the last few weeks, Natalie.

The focus has shifted from a primarily military campaign to a primarily economic campaign.

The U.S.

government has moved away from boat strikes in the Caribbean and the alleged campaign to stop the flow of drugs coming from Venezuela to the United States.

And they have moved towards Venezuelan oil.

They have moved towards taking action against tankers

exporting Venezuelan oil, the biggest source of the country's revenue, with a very clear attempt to squeeze the country's finances, squeeze them to the point of strangulation, and achieve the results that they have not been able to achieve through military hands.

Well, the rationale that the U.S.

officials have used for this campaign has varied throughout the last several months.

But increasingly, the message coming out from U.S.

officials and public is about regime change, right?

That all these different measures that the U.S.

is taking against Venezuela is to force President Nicolas Maduro to leave office.

And Trump has attempted to crash the Venezuelan economy in the past with a view of getting rid of Maduro.

But what we're seeing right now is unprecedented.

It's the biggest economic pressure against a Latin American state that we've seen in decades.

So on December 10th, an oil tanker called Skipper, carrying about 2 million barrels of oil, was heading east towards China, carrying Venezuelan oil to its biggest market.

But it was ambushed in international waters by U.S.

And to control the vessel.