Caribbean Area

• Rubio Stresses U.S. Plan to Coerce Venezuela Rather Than Govern It - The secretary of state said that a military “quarantine” on some oil exports would stay in place to put pressure on the country’s acting leadership.
• The U.S. Indictment of Maduro Cites Cocaine Smuggling. Venezuela’s Role in the Trade Is Believed to Be Modest. - Experts have said that Venezuela is not a major drug producer but a minor cocaine transit country, with most of the cocaine flowing through it headed to Europe.
• Trump Shares Photo of Captured Nicolás Maduro, Blindfolded and Handcuffed - The Venezuelan president and his wife were flown out of Caracas by helicopter to the U.S.S. Iwo Jima, a warship taking them to New York.
• Trump Shares an Image of Maduro Blindfolded and Handcuffed - The Venezuelan president and his wife were flown out of Caracas by helicopter to the U.S.S. Iwo Jima, a warship taking them to New York.
• The U.S. Has Been Building Up Forces Off Venezuela for Months - The United States military’s Southern Command said in December that about 15,000 troops were in the Caribbean region.
• Coast Guard Suspends Search for Survivors of Latest Boat Strikes - The service said that conditions in the area where the search was taking place included nine-foot seas and winds approaching 50 miles per hour.
• Grim Evidence of Trump’s Boat Strikes Washes Ashore on a Colombian Peninsula - First came the scorched boat. Then the mangled bodies. Then the packets with traces of marijuana. Now, fishermen fear the ocean that feeds them.
• Trump’s Tanker Crackdown Paralyzes Venezuelan Oil Exports - Oil exports, the country’s financial lifeblood, have plummeted after the United States took action against three ships that have been used to carry its crude.
• Trump Administration Oil Tanker Seizures Are Meant to Force Maduro Out, Officials Say - Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the ship seizures were meant to force Venezuela’s president Nicolás Maduro from power.
• U.S. Coast Guard Is Pursuing an Oil Tanker Linked to Venezuela - U.S. forces had boarded a different tanker on Saturday. The actions signaled a crackdown on such vessels.