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The United States on Wednesday imposed sanctions on four companies operating in Venezuela’s oil industry and designated four additional oil tankers that it accuses of being part of a shadow fleet serving Venezuela. Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro’s government blocked the property.
The action is part of the Trump administration’s months-long campaign to pressure Maduro. The U.S. military has also seized two oil tankers off the coast of Venezuela, is pursuing another tanker, and has carried out a series of fatal strikes in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific against suspected drug smuggling vessels.
The series of attacks announced on Wednesday brought the death toll from attacks to at least 110 since early September. In a new escalation marking the first known direct action on Venezuelan soil, CIA Last week, the United States carried out drone strikes on a staging area believed to be used by drug cartels.
The latest sanctions from the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control target the Nord Star, Lunar Tide, Rosalind and Della ships and their registered ownership companies.
“Today’s sanctions continue President Trump’s pressure campaign against Maduro and his associates,” State Department spokesman Tommy Piggott said in a statement. “The Trump administration is committed to disrupting the networks that support Maduro and his illegitimate regime.”
The sanctions are designed to prohibit companies and tankers from acquiring any property or financial assets held in the United States. People, banks and financial institutions that violate the restrictions will face sanctions or enforcement action.
finance minister Scott Bessant It said the United States “will not allow the illegitimate Maduro regime to profit from exporting oil while flooding the United States with deadly drugs.”
president Donald Trump A “blockade” has been announced on all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving the South American country. He demanded that Venezuela return assets seized from U.S. oil companies years ago and said Maduro’s government was using oil profits to fund drug trafficking and other criminal activities.
“Treasury will continue to implement President Trump’s pressure campaign on the Maduro regime,” Bessant said.