APT Opinion | Maduro, Xi & Putin Stand Firm as US Escalates Pressure on Venezuela

Venezuela has become the center of a high-stakes geopolitical showdown as the United States, under President Donald Trump, ramps up military and strategic pressure in the Caribbean. The Trump administration cites drug trafficking as the justification, but critics question whether the real target is Venezuela’s vast oil reserves.

Amid escalating tensions, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has received public birthday messages from Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin, reaffirming their support and signaling that Caracas now occupies a pivotal position in global power dynamics. Trump’s controversial actions, including closing Venezuelan airspace and deploying the USS Gerald Ford, have drawn criticism from lawmakers, analysts, and international observers, raising questions about legality, human rights, and U.S. intentions.

Is this really a campaign against narcotics—or a strategic move in the US-China-Russia power struggle? Watch APT Opinion’s latest episode for full analysis.

#Venezuela #Trump #Maduro #China #Russia #APT

Transcript

00:00I have a question for all of you, especially those of you who support President Donald Trump.

00:07Do you think the U.S. is genuinely fighting drug trafficking?

00:12Or is Trump's Venezuela strategy a geopolitical power play?

00:24I'm looking forward to reading your comments on this one.

00:26In fact, post a comment now with your point of view and then watch the video.

00:32Subscribe if you haven't already.

00:34And then tell me at the end if your views have changed in any way.

00:39Alright, deep breath. Let's dive in.

00:50So, Nicolas Maduro turned another year older.

00:54And instead of a quiet cake cutting, he ends up receiving two of the most politically charged birthday messages on the planet.

01:04Not from regional allies, not from friendly presidents, but from Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin.

01:11You know a story is shifting when the two most powerful challengers to U.S. global influence

01:17send the Venezuelan president letters that read less like happy birthday and more like

01:24we've got your back publicly, loudly and strategically.

01:30Putin's message?

01:31Unwavering solidarity with the friendly people of Venezuela.

01:34That's basically Putin saying, we stand with Maduro no matter what pressure Washington applies.

01:42Xi's message?

01:43Even sharper.

01:45China categorically rejects any foreign interference in Venezuela under any pretext.

01:51Categorically.

01:52Under any pretext.

01:54Those are fighting words in diplomatic language.

01:56And Maduro, smiling on his weekly TV show, reads these letters to the nation.

02:03Because he knows exactly what they mean.

02:06He is no longer just a regional concern.

02:09He is a global flashpoint.

02:11Yo con el teléfono aquí, Huawei, este Huawei me lo regaló el presidente Xi Jinping.

02:16Mira, ya tiene dos años y pico y está, bueno pues, perfecto, Huawei.

02:23Lo recomiendo.

02:26Nadie se lo puede intervenir.

02:28Es inintervenible.

02:32Se puede decir, asesor, no se puede intervenir.

02:35O sea, un teléfono blindado a cualquier tipo de intervención, sea satelital o de cualquier sitio.

02:42Ya va que me están informando de cosas aquí.

02:44The Trump administration is painting an entirely different picture.

02:50In a memo shared with Newsweek, the White House links Venezuela to narco-terrorism

02:54and argues the U.S. is effectively in a non-international armed conflict with groups tied to the region.

03:02When the U.S. starts using words like armed conflict, it is setting the legal groundwork for military action.

03:10And then, without any warning, the post happens.

03:14Donald Trump jumps onto Truth Social and writes,

03:16To all airlines, pilots, drug dealers and human traffickers,

03:20please consider the airspace above and surrounding Venezuela closed.

03:25One line.

03:27No explanation.

03:28Just a geopolitical spark dropped into dry grass.

03:33Latin American governments sprinted to figure out what it meant.

03:37Airlines scrambled.

03:39Analysts dissected every word.

03:41Was this an ultimatum?

03:43A pre-strike signal?

03:45A deterrent?

03:46Or just Trump being Trump?

03:49Reporters asked him directly aboard Air Force One.

03:51And Trump, smiling, said,

03:55Don't read anything into it.

03:57Ah yes.

03:58Don't read anything into the President of the United States

04:01announcing that the airspace over a foreign country is closed in its entirety.

04:08Nothing to see here.

04:09Move along.

04:11Trump confirmed he had spoken with Maduro

04:13and then, mysteriously, added,

04:16I wouldn't say it went well or badly.

04:19Which usually means it went exactly how you might imagine a Trump-Maduro phone call would go.

04:25And here's where it gets more serious.

04:27The United States is expanding military operations in the Caribbean.

04:31Not small patrols.

04:33We're talking about the USS Gerald Ford,

04:35a nuclear-powered supercarrier,

04:37plus a surge of naval vessels.

04:39The move comes right after U.S. forces carried out deadly attacks

04:50on boats in international waters,

04:52claiming they were drug traffickers.

04:55But then,

04:56The Washington Post dropped its bombshell.

04:58Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth

05:00allegedly ordered the U.S. Navy to kill everyone

05:03on board certain boats,

05:05including a second strike

05:06that targeted and killed two injured survivors.

05:10Hegseth denies it.

05:12Trump says he'll look into it.

05:15Republican lawmakers,

05:16yes, Republicans,

05:18are furious.

05:19Ohio's Mike Turner calls it

05:21potentially an illegal act.

05:24Nebraska's Don Bacon says

05:26it would be a clear violation of the law of war.

05:29When members of the president's own party

05:32sound like U.N. investigators,

05:35you know something is very, very wrong in Washington.

05:38Eleven unidentified people on board a small boat

05:41were targeted and killed

05:43by the full might of the U.S. military.

05:46Where is international law?

05:48Where is due process?

05:50Where are the West's human rights advocates?

05:52Were those 11 people really drug smugglers?

05:56The Washington Post quoted a DEA official who said,

06:0011 people is an unrealistically large number

06:03for a smuggling op.

06:05It's more likely to have been illegal migrants.

06:08Smugglers usually have much smaller crews,

06:12especially for a boat this size.

06:14Think about it.

06:15The more people on board,

06:17the less room for drugs to sell.

06:20Trump, however,

06:21is totally unapologetic about the broader operation.

06:25You can see the boats, he says.

06:27You can see the drugs.

06:28Each boat is responsible for killing 25,000 Americans.

06:33How many of you actually believe him?

06:36Just hours earlier,

06:37President Trump announced a pardon

06:38for the former president of Honduras,

06:41Juan Orlando Hernandez,

06:42who has been serving a 45-year sentence.

06:45For what?

06:45For partnering with drug traffickers

06:47who had allegedly shipped 400 tons of cocaine

06:50to the United States.

06:52And in September,

06:54Trump delivered the Majors List to Congress,

06:56the list which identifies countries responsible

06:59for producing and transporting illicit drugs

07:02to the United States.

07:04There are 23 countries named in this,

07:07the 2026 Majors List.

07:1023 countries.

07:12Guess how many the U.S. is bombing?

07:14One, Venezuela.

07:17Not Colombia, not Afghanistan.

07:19Certainly not China, India, Pakistan,

07:22which are all on the list.

07:24Only Venezuela.

07:26Why Venezuela?

07:27No, no, metemos con nadie en este mundo.

07:33Quieren robarse el petróleo.

07:35Vamos a dejar que se roben el petróleo de Venezuela.

07:37¡Oil!

07:39Quieren robarse el gas de Venezuela.

07:42¡Lo vamos a permitir!

07:43¡Oil!

07:44Oil, the resource that the United States

07:47is the world's number one consumer of.

07:50In fact, American demand for oil is growing.

07:53This year, the U.S. used 20 million barrels of oil per day.

07:58That's the highest in 18 years.

08:00So while the U.S. is the world's largest oil producer,

08:04its demand for oil is so high

08:05that it still needs to import

08:07about 30 to 35 percent of its total oil consumption.

08:11So if Maduro is right,

08:13that it's about oil,

08:15why Venezuela specifically?

08:17If drug trade is the excuse that Trump is using

08:20to increase U.S. control over foreign oil,

08:23then let's take another look at that majors list.

08:26Trump's own roster of countries responsible

08:28for drugs coming into the U.S.

08:30If we sort those 23 countries

08:32by the amount of oil they produce,

08:35look at what we'd get.

08:36The top three are China, Mexico, Venezuela.

08:41No question of attacking China,

08:43a nuclear-armed behemoth.

08:44No need to attack Mexico,

08:46which already sends 75 percent of its oil to the U.S.

08:50What's left?

08:52Venezuela.

08:53But now Venezuela has made it clear.

08:55It's not alone.

08:57On live TV, Maduro thanks Xi and Putin

09:00for standing with Venezuela

09:02in an authentic and courageous way.

09:04He talks about a growing, fervent love

09:07for Venezuela around the world.

09:09With China, we have a profound trust,

09:12profound,

09:14amplia

09:14and

09:16we have established

09:17a strategic association

09:19to all prove

09:21for every moment.

09:23And this moment

09:24that we have to have to live in Venezuela,

09:28the relationship China-Venezuela

09:29passes the prove

09:31ampliamente

09:32and

09:34this moment

09:35has been to

09:36deepen it

09:37and strengthen it

09:38in all the fronts of work

09:39today.

09:40So that's the note

09:41that Xi Jinping

09:43ratifies

09:43paragraph by paragraph,

09:46written in the letter,

09:48his solidarity

09:50and

09:51support

09:51to all

09:52Venezuela.

09:53But,

09:53let's be real.

09:55Is this really love?

09:57Or is it leverage?

09:59Global positioning.

10:01Three superpowers

10:01drawing lines

10:03in the Caribbean sand.

10:04And Venezuela,

10:05whether it wants to be or not,

10:07has become the stage

10:09for this collision.

10:10If the U.S. pushes harder,

10:12China and Russia will respond.

10:14If China and Russia push harder,

10:15the U.S. will escalate.

10:17And in between

10:18the pressure from Washington

10:19and the protection

10:20from Moscow and Beijing

10:21sits a country

10:22that has already

10:23weathered sanctions,

10:25internal turmoil,

10:26economic collapse,

10:27mass migration

10:28and years

10:29of political fracture.

10:31This moment?

10:32This is something new.

10:34This is triangular tension.

10:36Xi and Putin

10:37have entered the chat.

10:38Trump has thrown

10:39the U.S. Navy

10:40into the Caribbean

10:41and the world

10:42is watching

10:42a small country

10:43become a test

10:45of global resolve.

10:47Is this really about drugs?

10:49Or is Venezuela

10:49becoming the next major front

10:51in a global U.S.-China-Russia

10:54power struggle?

10:55So tell me,

10:57do you buy

10:57the official explanation?

10:59Or is there something

11:01bigger happening here?

11:03And if it's oil,

11:04not drugs,

11:05will it stop with,

11:07let's say,

11:08a trade deal?

11:09Or is this only the beginning?

11:11If you support

11:13Trump's Venezuela strategy,

11:15have you thought about

11:16what comes next?

11:17I really want to hear from you.

11:20Subscribe to us,

11:21get an APT channel membership

11:22if you can,

11:23because this story,

11:25this story is not slowing down.

11:27It's accelerating.

11:28I really want to hear from you.

11:29I really want to hear from you.

11:30I really want to hear from you.

11:31I really want to hear from you.

11:32I really want to hear from you.

11:33I really want to hear from you.

11:34I really want to hear from you.

11:35I really want to hear from you.

11:36I really want to hear from you.

11:37I really want to hear from you.

11:38I really want to hear from you.

11:39I really want to hear from you.

11:40I really want to hear from you.

11:41I really want to hear from you.

11:42I really want to hear from you.

11:43I really want to hear from you.

APT Opinion | Maduro, Xi & Putin Stand Firm as US Escalates Pressure on Venezuela | APT

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