Venezuela, once one of the most prosperous and U.S.-friendly nations in South America, has done a brisk counter-march since the election of socialist strong-man Hugo Chavez, whose iron-fisted rule has been taken up by his successor, Nicolás Maduro. There has been an ongoing battle over whether or not Venezuela will accept repatriation flights of its citizens caught in the United States illegally; at the moment, as of Sunday, they have started accepting those flights.

On Monday, President Trump took to his Truth Social social media account to announce the upcoming imposition of secondary tariffs on Venezuela, citing the number of gang members entering the U.S. from that country.

The president said in full:

President Donald J. Trump announced today that the United States of America will be putting what is known as a Secondary Tariff on the Country of Venezuela, for numerous reasons, including the fact that Venezuela has purposefully and deceitfully sent to the United States, undercover, tens of thousands of high level, and other, criminals, many of whom are murderers and people of a very violent nature. Among the gangs they sent to the United States, is Tren de Aragua, which has been given the designation of “Foreign Terrorist Organization.” We are in the process of returning them to Venezuela — It is a big task! In addition, Venezuela has been very hostile to the United States and the Freedoms which we espouse. Therefore, any Country that purchases Oil and/or Gas from Venezuela will be forced to pay a Tariff of 25% to the United States on any Trade they do with our Country. All documentation will be signed and registered, and the Tariff will take place on April 2nd, 2025, LIBERATION DAY IN AMERICA. Please let this notification serve to represent that the Department of Homeland Security, Border Patrol, and all other Law Enforcement Agencies within our Country have been so notified. Thank you for your attention to this matter!

Now this is an interesting move - although the timing is curious, given that Venezuela has only just started accepting the repatriation flights again.

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Granted, El Presidente Maduro's government has been squawking about the Tren de Aragua gang members we have sent to El Salvador, there to be lovingly coddled in that country's Terrorism Confinement Center. 

What pressure is President Trump hoping to bring on Venezuela? This seems an interesting sort of side-door economic sanction, using the power of the United States economy to dissuade other nations from doing business with Venezuela, presumably in order to persuade Venezuela to keep their gang members at home. Given the number of Tren de Aragua members already caught and others known to be in the country, it's likely that Venezuelans in general don't want them back.

As for the economic pressures, the people of Venezuela already have it pretty bad.

President Trump's secondary tariffs are set, he says, to take effect on April 2nd. His Truth Social post doesn't make any mention of what Venezuela might do to avoid these tariffs. We will, as always, monitor this developing story, and bring you updates as events warrant.

Thanks to President Trump, illegal immigration into our great country has virtually stopped. Despite the radical left's lies, new legislation wasn't needed to secure our border, just a new president.

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