Overview
- President Donald Trump warned Nicolás Maduro to step down, saying it would be “smart” to resign and cautioning that resisting would be his “last time” playing tough.
- The U.S. reported a second straight day of pursuit of a sanctioned tanker described as part of a clandestine fleet, after Coast Guard seizures of the Centuries and the Skipper.
- The Pentagon has concentrated about a dozen warships including the USS Gerald R. Ford and roughly 15,000 personnel in the Caribbean, with flight operations staged from Roosevelt Roads in Puerto Rico.
- U.S. Southern Command confirmed a lethal interdiction against a suspected drug-smuggling vessel in the eastern Pacific as maritime enforcement intensified on multiple fronts.
- At the UN Security Council, Chinese and Russian envoys denounced Washington’s measures as illegal, while analysts said neither power is likely to answer with direct military support for Venezuela; Caracas also issued a warning to Trinidad and Tobago over potential use of its territory.