As both governments increase their rhetoric, the U.S. continues to buy Venezuelan oil that is extracted by American company Chevron thanks to a permit from the U.S. Treasury.
Melanio Escobar is a human rights activist and social media influencer who had to flee Venezuela five years ago.
Now he lives in Orlando, where he makes a daily YouTube show on Venezuela. Lately he’s been talking about the arrival of eight U.S. warships near that country’s coast, a deployment he describes as “the beginning” of Venezuela’s liberty.
“What happens when an entire nation is run as a narco state, and not as a regular country?” he said in a recent show. “Sooner or later, they come to knock on your door.”
Over the past two weeks the U.S. has been sending several warships towards Venezuela’s coast, in a move that has generated tensions with Venezuela’s government.
Venezuelans are watching closely, with a mix of hope and dread.
From his home studio in Orlando, Escobar says that the U.S. flotilla of three destroyers, a submarine and an amphibian landing force could be aimed directly at President Nicolás Maduro.
The Venezuelan president has been widely accused of stealing last year’s election, and jailing hundreds of his opponents. But, more significantly Escobar points out, he has also been indicted in the U.S. for drug trafficking – with a reward of up to $50 million for information leading to his arrest – and is frequently described by White House officials as the leader of a “narco terror cartel” that sends drugs to the United States.
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