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The Reuters communication agency reported this Saturday that The United States is in the middle of an operation to intercept and seize an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela.
The fact, confirmed by three US officials who requested anonymity, is taking place in international waters.
This measure comes a few days after US President Donald Trump announced a “blockade” of all tankers sanctioned persons entering and leaving Venezuela.
This would be the second time in recent weeks that the United States has seized an oil tanker near Venezuela, amid a large US military deployment in the region.
Officials did not specify in their statement where the operation was taking place, but added that the Coast Guard was leading this operation.
The Coast Guard and the Pentagon queries were referred to the White Housewhich did not immediately respond to request for comment. For their part, the Venezuelan Ministry of Petroleum and the state-owned PDVSA did not offer an immediate response either.
US President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday of this week that he was ordering a “total and complete blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela.” The group of sanctioned vessels is made up of approximately 18 vessels, all of them loaded with oil and located near the Venezuelan coast.
Following the seizure of a sanctioned oil tanker by US forces off the Venezuelan coast last week, an effective embargo has been established, keeping several vessels loaded with millions of barrels of oil in Venezuelan waters to avoid the risk of confiscation.
One of the direct consequences of this seizure has been the drastic drop in Venezuelan crude oil exports.
In the statement sent this Tuesday by Trump, the president pointed out that “the illegitimate Maduro regime uses the oil from these stolen fields to finance narcoterrorismhuman trafficking, as well as murders and kidnappings.
Faced with these accusations, his Venezuelan namesake, Nicolás Maduro has accused Trump of raping “international law, free trade and free navigability”calling this measure a “grotesque threat.”
“The defense of freedom of trade and peace in the Caribbean and Venezuela is the defense of freedom of trade and peace in the entire world,” Maduro stressed after Trump’s threats.