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The U.S. seizure of a Venezuelan oil tanker has been described as a “ significant ,” even “ dramatic ,” escalation of President Donald Trump’s campaign to pressure Nicolás Maduro, the country’s dictator, out of office—but this isn’t quite the case.

The seizure might serve as part of a rationale for regime change, which Trump has been advocating, in part through aggressive rhetoric, in part by deploying military forces to the Caribbean, including more than 15,000 troops and a dozen warships, including an aircraft carrier.

However, the seizure also marks the latest—albeit the most elaborate—episode in a series of maritime confrontations that have been going

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