Today, we offer three thought-provoking pieces on the Trump administration policy regarding Venezuela and Cuba — one a short video analysis of the big picture from one perspective, one a detailed news report, the last an analytical commentary. When the US recently seized the oil tanker called Skipper, which left Venezuela on Dec. 4 carrying about two million barrels of the country’s heavy crude, important details did not get a lot public attention amid the fireworks of various reactions. The devils, however, are in the details — details about the tanker, its ownership, the history of its voyages (which are traceable), and the web of interrelationships that charted its course. Three sources shared below report and offer points or observations. Whether you agree with them or not, it’s valuable to know about them.
We open with a link to an eight-minute video from financial commentator Kerry Lutz. Setting aside the ending and promotion of his service, I think Lutz has efficiently summarized a view that needs consideration when we think about Trump’s policy regarding Venezuela and Cuba. We are watching that policy unfold daily.
“Venezuela Is the Spark. Cuba Is the Prize. China’s Hidden Hand,” https://khlfsn.substack.com/p/venezuela-is-the-spark-cuba-is-the
The second piece is from Reuters subscription services. We use them regularly and recommend Reuters as a news source that is attempting to report news, not editorialize or distort it. Thought-provoking, detailed reporting makes this an essential read:
“Mapping escalating US pressure on Venezuela,” https://www.reuters.com/world/us/mapping-escalating-us-pressure-venezuela-2025-12-12 .
Last is a link to Stephen Bryen’s analysis of the globally reported tanker seizure. Bryen is a former Deputy Under Secretary of Defense and is an expert in security strategy and technology who writes for a variety of media outlets. His detailed examination is worth being aware of and thinking about. The link follows:
“Skipper Oil Tanker Seizure Tip of the Clandestine Iceberg,” by Stephen Bryen, https://weapons.substack.com/p/skipper-oil-tanker-seizure-tip-of
My colleagues and I are working on a pamphlet titled From Monroe Doctrine to Trump Corollary, focused on the Monroe Doctrine’s history and applications and how the Trump administration is implementing its own interpretation of that doctrine today. The administration’s new National Security Strategy poses a “Trump Corollary ” in the tradition of the “Roosevelt Corollary,” justifying intervention in the Western Hemisphere with a number of explicit US goals in mind:
- maintaining stability so as to discourage mass migration,
- working with other governments against drug cartels and other criminal organizations,
- ensuring “a Hemisphere that remains free of hostile foreign incursion or ownership of key assets,”
- maintaining “access to key strategic locations.”
Meanwhile, moreso than a document composed by multiple authors is likely to do, the march of unfolding events will reflect and reveal just how the Trump administration is tailoring the Monroe Doctrine for its own goals. Stay tuned for more.
