Venezuela has rejected in a statement the interception and subsequent seizure of a vessel carrying Venezuelan crude oil near the country’s coast by US military personnel deployed in the Caribbean. “The President of the United States confessed to the assault on an oil tanker,” the statement reads, describing the action as “blatant theft” and an act of “international piracy.” Under these circumstances, the statement continues, “the true reasons for the prolonged aggression against Venezuela have finally been revealed. It is not migration. It is not drug trafficking. It is not democracy. It is not human rights. It has always been about our wealth, which belongs exclusively to the Venezuelan people.”
According to US Attorney General Pam Bondi, the seized vessel is sanctioned for having been “used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran” and for being involved in “an illicit network that supports terrorist organizations,” according to investigations by the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security’s investigative arm, and the Coast Guard, with support from the Pentagon.
The imposition of sanctions by OFAC (the US Office of Foreign Assets Control) has forced the Maduro government to operate clandestinely in order to trade crude oil and maintain its finances. Although Washington’s action comes amid escalating operations against Venezuela, it is not the first time such an incident has occurred. Last month, a US destroyer intercepted a Russian vessel en route to Venezuela in the Caribbean and forced it to change course, ultimately diverting it to Cuba.
