The President's Daily Brief
PDB Afternoon Bulletin | December 18th, 2025: Venezuela Sends Warships to Challenge U.S. Naval Blockade & Colombia Cartel Labeled Terrorists
18 Dec 2025
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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Welcome to the PDB Afternoon Bulletin. I'm Mike Baker. Your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. First up, tensions are climbing in the Caribbean as Venezuela orders its Navy to escort oil tankers in response to the U.S. naval blockade, raising the risk, of course, of a direct showdown with American warships.
Later in the show, the US designates Colombia's Clan de Golfo Cartel as a terrorist organization, a move that could open the door to expanded military action against the group. But first, today's afternoon spotlight. As we covered yesterday here on the PDB, President Trump announced a naval blockade targeting US-sanctioned Venezuelan oil tankers.
It's a move designed to cut off a major source of revenue, of course, for the Maduro regime. Now today, well, we're seeing Caracas respond. President Nicolas Maduro has ordered Venezuelan naval vessels to escort oil tankers as they leave Venezuelan ports and move through surrounding waters.
On its face, well, that sounds like a direct challenge to the U.S. blockade, and it's certainly meant to look that way. But here's the key detail that matters right now. None of the tankers being escorted so far are on the U.S. sanctions list.
That distinction is important because, at least for the moment, this move remains largely symbolic. Maduro is signaling defiance without actually crossing the line that would force a U.S. response. He's climbing the escalation ladder, so to speak, but he hasn't reached the rung where things could get ugly, primarily for him.
Still, this move matters because once you introduce naval escorts, of course, you change the character of the situation. What had been a sanctions enforcement operation now includes state military forces operating in close proximity. And that's, of course, where the risk starts to creep in.
Think of it this way, an unescorted tanker can be stopped, boarded, or diverted with relatively little drama, just like we saw last week with the seizure of the Skipper. A tanker escorted by armed naval vessels, well, that's a different equation. If Venezuelan warships continue escorting non-sanctioned tankers, well, the U.S.
can largely just observe and shadow and document, sending a message without triggering a confrontation, and that keeps things basically contained. But if Caracas decides to up the ante, if a sanctioned tanker leaves port under armed Venezuelan escort, well, we've got a new ballgame. At that point, U.S. forces obviously face a hard choice.
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Chapter 2: What actions has Venezuela taken in response to the U.S. naval blockade?
Well, I'm glad you asked. No surprise, that part isn't entirely clear. But new reporting gives us a better sense of how Washington is thinking about this. According to current and former Navy officials, US warships in the Caribbean have already been shadowing sanctioned oil tankers in international waters as they approach Venezuela. The idea is deterrence.
Make it clear those ships are being watched, apply pressure, and ideally, convince their captains to turn around before anything escalates. But if that deterrence fails, US commanders obviously have a few different options. One approach is to treat it as a law enforcement operation.
That would involve identifying sanctioned vessels, securing legal warrants, and then seizing the ships in coordination with other agencies, similar to what we saw with the earlier seizure of the Skipper. That would involve armed boarding teams deployed by helicopter from nearby warships, of course.
Those kind of operations are already high risk, but they become even more complicated if Venezuelan naval vessels are escorting those tankers. There's also another possibility being discussed behind the scenes. American officials say another option could involve disabling a tanker's propulsion system, preventing it from moving, without boarding it outright.
That would require extremely careful execution, both to avoid casualties and to prevent a major oil spill. Basically, we are in uncharted waters here as we approach the end of 2025.
What started in the Caribbean as a counter-narcotics operation morphed into a large-scale military deployment to the region, and now a naval blockade, with President Trump announcing via social media that the US wouldn't let up pressure until Venezuela returns the oil and land that it stole from the US, making it appear that this is all about natural resources.
Clearly, the White House is multitasking, combating narco-traffickers, seizing and blockading sanctioned oil tankers, exerting pressure on Venezuela's only real revenue stream, and trying to push Maduro out of power. It's quite the holiday season.
Coming up next, Washington takes a major step against Colombia's Clan de Golfo cartel, designating the group as terrorists and potentially paving the way for military action. I'll be right back. Hey, Mike Baker here. Let me ask you an important question. Do you owe $10,000 or more in credit card debt or personal loans?
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Chapter 3: Why is the U.S. escalating its military presence in the Caribbean?
Welcome back to the Afternoon Bulletin. The Trump administration's campaign against Latin American drug networks is widening. After first targeting Venezuelan narco-terrorists earlier this year, the White House is turning to Colombia, designating the Clan de Golfo cartel a foreign terrorist organization, potentially expanding U.S. military action. This is how Washington put it.
The State Department this week described Klandergolfo as a, quote, violent and powerful criminal organization, pointing to its economic reliance on cocaine trafficking and a long history of attacks against public officials, law enforcement, military personnel and civilians inside Colombia.
Beyond the symbolism, the designation tightens financial pressure and places the group squarely within a legal framework that the U.S. has increasingly relied on to confront transnational threats more aggressively under President Trump. If that framing sounds familiar, well, that's precisely the point.
As you know, in February, the Trump administration applied the same terrorist label to Venezuela's Trendo Aragua and, back in November, Cardel de los Sols. That opened the door for the ongoing U.S. military campaign targeting drug-smuggling boats operating off Venezuela's coast. The Colombian cartel now finds itself in the spotlight and possibly in the crosshairs.
For background, Clan de Golfo, also known as AGC, is believed to have roughly 9,000 fighters, making it one of the South American country's most powerful armed groups.
The organization traces its roots to paramilitary squads that fought Marxist guerrillas during Colombia's internal conflict in the 1990s and 2000s, before morphing into a sprawling criminal enterprise deeply embedded in the cocaine trade. and its reach is extensive.
According to Colombia's Human Rights Defender's Office, the cartel operates in roughly one-third of the country's some 1,100 municipalities, extorting businesses and a variety of other activities, including recruiting children to carry out its smuggling operations.
At one time, the Colombian government says the group offered cash bounties for, quote, dead police officers, a detail that underscores how openly the cartel challenges the Colombian state. And in 2022, AGC demonstrated just how much leverage it holds, shutting down dozens of towns in northern Colombia for several days after its leader was extradited to the U.S.
But Bogota has attempted to fight back, with the country's security forces intensifying operations against the cartel over the past year, capturing more than 200 members and killing fighters, including senior figures. Yet, despite those efforts, violence persists and frustration in Washington has continued to mount.
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