Author Archives: Samuel Ben-Ur & Krystal Bermudez

Samuel Ben-Ur is a research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Krystal Bermudez is a communications manager at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

US seizes more tankers, courts oil companies as post-Maduro Venezuela takes shape

| January 13, 2026

In the week following Washington’s arrest of former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, regime figures like interim President Delcy Rodriguez, Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez, and Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello are jockeying for position and deciding how to move forward. Rodriguez and US President Donald Trump have offered conflicting views on who holds true authority, while the US has provided no established plans for a transition or elections. Simultaneously, the US blockade on sanctioned oil tankers remains in force, and Trump is making efforts to secure 30-50 million barrels of Venezuela’s crude oil while trying to convince US oil companies to invest.

How Venezuela’s Maduro became Washington’s most persistent hemispheric adversary

| December 1, 2025

US President Donald Trump has imposed unprecedented military pressure on Venezuela during his second term, including kinetic strikes on alleged drug speedboats. However, this largest buildup of American military power in the Caribbean since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 didn’t happen in a vacuum. The US has applied various forms of pressure to counter the authoritarian turn of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro since he took power in 2013.