United States International Relations

• Venezuelan Navy Escorts Vessels in Defiance of Trump’s Blockade Threat - Pentagon officials, surprised by President Trump’s orders, scrambled to work out a plan to halt sanctioned tankers as Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela’s leader, vowed resistance.
• House Rejects Measure to Bar Strikes Inside Venezuela - The Democratic measure was defeated mostly along party lines, along with another resolution that would have halted the military’s escalating campaign of boat attacks.
• Tankers Under Sanction Are Only a Subset of Fleet Moving Venezuelan Oil - The scope of President Trump’s blockade against ships carrying oil from Venezuela was not clear on Wednesday.
• Trump Revised Chevron’s Venezuela Deal. Maduro’s Oil Trader Profited. - A firm controlled by a businessman sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury for ties to President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela has sold millions of barrels from a Chevron-operated oil field.
• Trump Expands Travel Ban and Restrictions to 20 More Countries - People from Syria, South Sudan and those with documents issued by the Palestinian Authority are included in the latest restrictions. More than 35 countries are now under U.S. travel restrictions.
• Kushner’s Firm Pulls Out of Trump-Branded Hotel Deal in Serbia - The announcement came just hours after prosecutors there charged four government officials with corruption in connection with the half-billion-dollar project.
• Zelensky Offers Compromise Before Latest Round of Peace Plan Talks - Ukraine’s president is meeting with U.S. negotiators on the latest plans to try end the war with Russia. He said he would give up hopes of joining NATO, at least for now, if he got strong security guarantees.
• For Rubio the Cuba Hawk, the Road to Havana Runs Through Venezuela - President Trump’s secretary of state and national security adviser has long sought to cripple or topple Cuba’s government, which has close security and economic ties to Venezuela.
• Venezuela Oil Tanker Seized by U.S. Was Part of Effort to Finance Cuba - Firms with ties to Cuba are getting a larger share of Venezuelan oil exports, as the island’s security agents boost President Nicolás Maduro’s defenses.
• Behind the Venezuelan Opposition Leader’s Daring Escape to Oslo - An American firm with experience in special operations spirited María Corina Machado, the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, out of the country in a secretive land, sea and air operation.