Trump redoubles pressure on Maduro and seizes a sanctioned oil ship off the coast of Venezuela

This is a new step that increases the pressure of the magnate on his Venezuelan counterpart, Nicolas Maduroafter months of tension between Washington and Caracas due to the Trump Administration’s military deployment in Caribbean waters under the argument of ending drug trafficking.

Although the first information revealed by Reuters They do not detail the origin of the oil or the exact place where The interception was carried out, everything seems to indicate that it is Venezuelan oil, the main source of income of the country.

The seizure could make the export of oil from Venezuela much more difficult, as other carriers are likely to be more reluctant to sail with their cargoes, media outlets such as Bloomberg.

Venezuela exported more than 900,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil last month, the third highest monthly average so far this year, thanks to the state company PDVSA importing more gasoline to dilute its extra-heavy oil production.

PDVSA, the Venezuelan state oil company, is working on drilling tasks with the American company Chevron, which has a license from the Treasury Department that exempts it from sanctions.

In addition to this action, which has caused oil prices to skyrocket After having quoted negative territory this Wednesday, Trump has ordered a massive troop surge in the region, including an aircraft carrier, fighter jets and tens of thousands of soldiers.

Since September, the US Armed Forces have attacked more than twenty vessels supposedly loaded with drugs in the Caribbean and the Pacific – international waters -, extrajudicially killing more than 80 crew members.

Furthermore, Trump has raised on multiple occasions the possibility of military intervention by land in Venezuela, and has assured that it will be “soon.”

These events occur on the same day as the ceremony in Oslo for the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to the Venezuelan opposition figure María Corina Machado, who has not attended the event although she has assured that she will arrive in the Norwegian capital in the next few hours and will appear in public to greet.