Natalie Kitroff

Today, my colleague Anatoly Kermeneyev explains why President Trump is shifting his tactics on Venezuela and what that might tell us about his true ending.

It's Wednesday, December 24th.

Anatoly, Merry Christmas.

Thanks for joining us today.

So the last time we talked to you was when the U.S.

military was ramping up these strikes on boats in Latin America that they claimed were running drugs to the U.S.

We are coming back to you now because over the past few weeks, we've been hearing about this new kind of escalation in the Caribbean, which is the U.S.

seizing ships that have been carrying Venezuelan oil.

So help us understand how you're interpreting this new element to this operation, which has been dramatic in its own right.

And what is the goal?

Okay, let's walk through exactly what we've seen.

How exactly did this new, and as you said, unprecedented phase of this pressure campaign start?

But it obviously wasn't a red herring.

It wasn't a one-off.

The administration then started going after more tankers.

They're actively chasing it in the ocean.

Got it.

So two seized tankers, one that's fled.

How is the Venezuelan government responding to all this at this point?

Anatoly, when we talked last, you made it very clear that forcing Maduro out was a big goal for very powerful people inside the Trump administration, Marco Rubio, the secretary of state in particular.