Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Laureate María Corina Machado escaped Venezuela using an extradition specialist contractor supplied by the Trump administration, according to a Wall Street Journal report cited by FaytuksNetwork on X during the 29-minute reporting window ending at 1:45 a.m. UTC on December 11, 2025. President Donald Trump stated "Be ready, things are happening fast" as Axios reported his second-term administration's aggressive pressure campaign on the Maduro regime, orchestrated by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and including the December 10 seizure of Venezuelan oil tanker MT Skipper, per an EmmaRincon post on X in the same window. Sources advising the administration described the tanker seizure as long overdue and more effective than other measures. Schizointel detailed on X that MT Skipper loaded at Venezuela's José offshore terminal last month, a hub for blending and rebranding Iranian crude as Venezuelan product through ship-to-ship transfers, new bills of lading, and exports to markets like China, tying into US claims of sanctions violations. Natsecboogie noted on X that the actions apply pressure on Maduro and regional backer Cuba, following Venezuelan denunciations of the tanker seizure as theft, as previously stated by Diosdado Cabello and President Nicolás Maduro.
