The oil blockade threat creates anxiety in Venezuela but people stick to their daily lives

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump's threat to cut off Venezuelan oil sales could devastate a country already wrangling with years of spiraling crisis.

The prospect added to Venezuelans' collective anxiety Wednesday over their country's future. But seasoned by years of political, social and economic challenges, they also treated it like another inconvenience — even when it could bring back shortages of food, gasoline and other goods that have defined the country over the last decade.

“Well, we’ve already had so many crises, shortages of so many things — food, gasoline — that one more ... well, one doesn’t worry anymore,” Milagro Viana said while waiting to catch a bus in Caracas, the capital.

Trump on Tuesday announced he was ordering a blockade of all “sanctioned oil tankers” into Venezuela, ramping up pressure on President Nicolás Maduro, who has been charged with narcoterrorism in the U.S. Trump’s escalation came after U.S. forces last week seized an oil tanker off Venezuela’s coast, an unusual step that followed a buildup of military forces in the region.

Venezuela has the world’s largest proven oil reserves and produces about 1 million barrels a day.

More than 80% of output is exported. Since the Trump administration began imposing oil sanctions against the country in 2017, Maduro’s government has relied on a shadowy fleet of unflagged tankers to smuggle crude into global supply chains.

In his post on social media announcing the blockade, Trump alleged Venezuela was using oil to fund drug trafficking and other crimes. He vowed to continue the military buildup until Venezuela gives the U.S. oil, land and other assets. He wasn't specific about the basis for his claim.

The White House has said the military operation, which began in the Caribbean and later expanded to the eastern Pacific Ocean, is meant to stop the flow of drugs into the U.S. The operation has killed more than 80 people, with Venezuelans among them.

Maduro denies the drug accusations and and he his allies have repeatedly said that the operation’s true purpose is to force regime change in Venezuela.

David Smilde, a Tulane University professor who has studied Venezuela for more than three decades, said a full implementation of Trump’s threat will cause a huge economic contraction because oil represents 90% of the country’s exports.

“This is a country that traditionally imports a lot, not just finished goods, but most intermediate goods – everything from toilet paper to food containers,” Smilde said. “If you don’t have you don’t have foreign currency coming up, that just brings the whole economy to a halt.”

Smilde said Trump’s threat was a gift to Chavismo, the political movement that Maduro inherited from the late President Hugo Chávez, his predecessor and mentor. Chávez became president in 1999 with promises to uplift the poor and used an oil bonanza in the 2000s to push a self-described socialist agenda.

“There are few actions that any U.S. president has taken in the last 25 years that have better fit Chavismo’s line than Donald Trump’s tweet last night,” Smilde said. “They have been saying this from the beginning, ‘The U.S. wants our oil.’ So, finally, the discourse has the evidence.”

People ride a boat along the coast in Macuto, Venezuela, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

Residents and fisherman stand near Macuto beach in Venezuela, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

Fresh tuna is for sale on Macuto beach in Venezuela, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

A man looks out at the sea in the city of La Guaira, Venezuela, where the nation's flag flies, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

A vendor sells inflatables on Macuto beach in Venezuela, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth arrives to brief members of Congress on military strikes near Venezuela, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, at the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth departs the Capitol after briefing members of Congress on military strikes near Venezuela, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

FILE - President Nicolas Maduro addresses supporters during a rally marking the anniversary of the Battle of Santa Ines, which took place during Venezuela's 19th-century Federal War, in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, File)

A man looks out at the sea in the city of La Guaira, Venezuela, where the nation's flag flies, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — With the search for the Brown University shooter in its fifth day Wednesday, authorities were asking the public to review any security or phone footage from the week before the attack in the hopes it might help investigators identify the person, believing the attacker may have cased the scene ahead of time.

“We’re looking for a moment that is shorter than someone taking a breath,” Providence's police chief, Col. Oscar Perez, said at a Tuesday news conference.

The request came after authorities released several videos from the hours and minutes before and after Saturday's attack showing the person they're seeking standing, walking and even running along streets just off campus, but always with a mask on or their head turned.

Although Brown President Christina Hull Paxson said there are 1,200 cameras on campus, the attack, which killed two students and wounded nine others, happened in a first-floor classroom in an older part of the engineering building that has “fewer, if any” cameras, Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha noted. Investigators also believe the shooter entered and left the building through a door that faces a residential street bordering campus, which might explain why the cameras Brown does have didn't capture footage of the person.

The lack of campus video of the shooter led President Donald Trump to accuse the Ivy League school of being unprepared, posting Wednesday on Truth Social: “Why did Brown University have so few Security Cameras? There can be no excuse for that. In the modern age, it just doesn’t get worse!!!”

Investigators have described the person they're seeking as about 5 feet, 8 inches (173 centimeters) tall and stocky, but they've given no indication that they are close to zeroing in on their identity.

The attacker's motives also remain a mystery, and Neronha batted away questions about what they might be, saying Tuesday, “That is a dangerous road to go down.”

Authorities have been canvassing the surrounding neighborhoods and have received about 200 tips, and Neronha defended the investigation as going "really well" as he pleaded for patience.

But the timing of the attack, coming just before the winter break, could complicate the investigation, as remaining classes and exams were canceled after the shooting and many students have already gone home.

The investigation also comes as Boston-area police search for the person who killed a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor earlier this week. That attack happened in the professor's home, and the FBI said it had no reason to think the two attacks were linked.

Separately, Providence police on Wednesday released a new photo of a separate individual who they said was in “proximity of the person of interest" and asked the public to help identify that person so they could speak with them. The person in the new photo is wearing dark pants and a blue jacket, and carrying a light tan bag.

The attack and shooter’s escape have raised questions about campus security.

Paxson said Brown has two security systems. One, which is activated in times of emergency, sent out text messages, phone calls and emails that reached 20,000 people. The other features three sirens across the campus and was not activated Saturday, a decision Paxson defended because doing so would have caused people to rush into buildings, including the one where the shooting was happening.

“So that is not a system we would ever use in the case of an active shooter,” she said.

Brown's website says the sirens can be used when there is an active shooter, but Paxson said it “depends on the circumstances" and the location of the shooter.

With the shooter still at-large, Providence remained tense Wednesday as additional police were stationed at city schools to reassure worried parents that their kids would be safe. Some schools canceled afterschool activities and field trips.

Prior to the shooting, nearly 1,600 Providence residents were registered to receive texts through a city text alert service. According to the city, 760 new accounts have been created since Sunday, bringing the total number of people registered to receive texts to more than 2,300 as of late Tuesday.

Brown also cautioned people to refrain from accusing people online of having any link to the attack, after it said such speculation led to a student being doxed — their identifying information was posted.

“Accusations, speculation and conspiracies we’re seeing on social media and in some news reports are irresponsible, harmful, and in some cases dangerous for the safety of individuals in our community,” the school said in a statement.

About 200 people gathered at a campus church service Tuesday to honor the victims, including Ella Cook and MukhammadAziz Umurzokov, the two students who died.

Cook was a 19-year-old sophomore from Alabama who was very involved in her church and served as vice president of the Brown College Republicans.

Umurzokov was an 18-year-old freshman from Virginia whose family immigrated to the U.S. from Uzbekistan and who hoped to go to medical school one day.

Rhode Island Hospital said Wednesday that six of the seven students still at the hospital recovering from gunshot wounds are in stable condition — a noticeable improvement since only one was stable as of Tuesday. One student remains in critical condition, while two have been discharged.

Contributing were Associated Press journalists Jennifer McDermott, Matt O'Brien and Robert F. Bukaty in Providence; Brian Slodysko in Washington; Michael Casey in Boston; Patrick Whittle in Portland, Maine; John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio; Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire; Heather Hollingsworth in Mission, Kansas; and Audrey McAvoy in Honolulu.

Photos of Brown University shooting victims Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, left, and Ella Cook, are seen amongst flowers at a makeshift memorial at the school's Van Wickle Gate, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025, in Providence, R.I. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

A snowman begins to sag on the usually-bustling Main Green at Brown University, where the fall semester was canceled a week early following the campus shooting, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025, in Providence, R.I. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

The U.S. flag flies at half-staff on the Main Green in honor of the victims of the campus shooting at Brown University, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025, in Providence, R.I. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

A poster seeking information about the campus shooting suspect is seen on the campus of Brown University, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025, in Providence, R.I. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Visitors kneel at a makeshift memorial for the shooting victims outside the Engineering Research Center at Brown University, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, in Providence, R.I.(AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Brown University students Gloria Kuzmenko-Latimir, left, and Haleema Aslam walk by Manning Hall on their way to a makeshift memorial for the shooting victims, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, in Providence, R.I. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

The choir enters St. Stephen's Church during a community service for the victims of the Brown University shooting, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Participants light candles at St. Stephen's Church during a community service for the victims of the Brown University shooting, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

This image taken from video provided by the FBI shows a person of interest in the investigation of the shooting that occurred at Brown University, in Providence, R.I., Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025. (FBI via AP)