United States President Donald Trump has claimed that the U.S. military has surrounded Venezuela with what he described as “the largest armada ever assembled in the history of South America,” warning of imminent action against the government of President Nicolás Maduro.
In a post published on Wednesday, December 17, Trump said Venezuela was “completely surrounded” and that the military presence would continue to expand.
He stated that the impact on the country would be unprecedented unless Venezuela returned what he described as “all of the oil, land, and other assets” that he claimed had been taken from the United States.
Trump accused what he termed the “illegitimate Maduro regime” of using oil from what he called stolen oil fields to finance activities including drug trafficking, human trafficking, murder, and kidnapping.
The Head of State further claimed that Venezuela had been designated a “foreign terrorist organization” due to what he cited as terrorism, drug smuggling and human trafficking.
Trump orders oil tanker blockade
At the same time, Trump said he was ordering a “total and complete blockade” of all sanctioned oil tankers traveling into and out of Venezuela. He described the measure as targeting oil shipments linked to the Venezuelan government.
The President also addressed immigration, stating that undocumented migrants and criminals allegedly sent to the United States by the Maduro government during what he described as the “weak and inept Biden Administration” were being returned to Venezuela “at a rapid pace.”
“I am ordering A TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE OF ALL SANCTIONED OIL TANKERS going into, and out of, Venezuela. The Illegal Aliens and Criminals that the Maduro Regime has sent into the United States during the weak and inept Biden Administration, are being returned to Venezuela at a rapid pace.”
He said the U.S. would not allow criminals, terrorists or other countries to threaten or harm the nation. He reiterated his demand that Venezuela return what he described as U.S oil, land and other assets “immediately.”
The President announced that the United States had seized an oil tanker named the “Skipper” off the coast of Venezuela, a move that marked a sharp escalation in tensions between Washington and Caracas.
Speaking about the operation, Trump said, “We’ve just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela, a large tanker, very large, the largest one ever, actually, and other things are happening.” When asked what would happen to the oil cargo, he added: “We keep it, I guess.”
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According to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, the tanker was seized for allegedly transporting oil in violation of U.S. sanctions imposed on Venezuela and Iran. Bondi said the operation was carried out by the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Coast Guard, with support from the U.S. military.
A short video shared by Bondi showed helicopters approaching a vessel as armed personnel descended onto its deck. British maritime risk consultancy Vanguard said the huge crude carrier Skipper was believed to have been seized off Venezuela early on Wednesday.
U.S. authorities say the Skipper is part of a network of so-called “ghost ships” used to move sanctioned oil. These vessels typically sail under foreign flags, change names and ownership structures, disable tracking transponders and conduct ship-to-ship transfers at sea to conceal the origin of their cargo.
U.S. seizes sanctioned oil tanker
The tanker had been loaded with approximately 1.8 million barrels of Venezuela’s Merey heavy crude at the country’s main oil port of Jose between December 4 and 5. Before its seizure, it transferred about 200,000 barrels of oil near Curaçao to another vessel bound for Cuba, according to satellite data analyzed by TankerTrackers.com and internal documents from Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA.
The Skipper had previously operated under the name Adisa and had been sanctioned by the United States for alleged involvement in Iranian oil trading.
Also Read: Is Trump Going After Venezuela’s Largest Oil Reserves?
Guyana’s maritime authority later said the tanker was falsely flying its flag. PDVSA data showed the vessel transported Venezuelan oil to Asia between 2021 and 2022.
Following the seizure, oil markets reacted, with Brent crude futures rising 27 cents, or 0.4 per cent, to $62.21 per barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude gained 21 cents, also 0.4 per cent, to settle at $58.46 per barrel.
The Venezuelan government responded by accusing the United States of “blatant theft”, describing the seizure as “an act of international piracy”. It said it would raise the matter before international bodies.
The seizure marked the first interception of a Venezuelan oil cargo under U.S. sanctions that have been in place since 2019, and the first known action against a Venezuela-related tanker since Trump ordered a significant military build-up in the region.
Since September, the U.S. military has carried out strikes on suspected drug-trafficking boats near Venezuela as part of what the Trump administration described as efforts to curb narcotics flows into the United States. At least 22 strikes have been reported, resulting in 87 deaths.
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