Natalie Kitroff

It could leave them worse off, actually.

And is the Trump administration's logic here that essentially by imposing what the president has called a blockade, by creating such terrible conditions inside Venezuela, the U.S.

either prompts an uprising by the Venezuelan people or Maduro just voluntarily leaves and gives up power?

Is that what they're after?

And what's your sense of whether that will actually work?

Because you, I know, are a student of Latin American history.

The U.S.

has been squeezing Maduro economically for years now.

And Cuba, for example, has been under a U.S.

embargo for more than a half century.

The communist government is still holding on to power.

Wow.

Wow.

The Soviets really do have the best anecdotes.

I'm also struck, Anatoly, by the obvious thing that happens when you squeeze a country economically, which is that people who are suffering try to leave it.

They migrate, which is another thing the Trump administration really doesn't want to see happen, right?

When we talked about the boat strikes a while ago, Anatoly, you had mentioned that there was this faction inside of the administration that was pushing for a diplomatic route, for a negotiation that might give the U.S.

a deal and a way out of this escalation, this campaign.

Is that still an option here with now the seizures of these oil tankers?

And what benefit would that actually give the United States?