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The US Coast Guard was pursuing another sanctioned oil tanker on Sunday Caribbean Sea In form of trump It appears that authorities are stepping up targeting of such vessels linked to Venezuelan Government.
The pursuit of the tanker, which was confirmed by a US official briefed on the operation, came after US authorities announced on Saturday that it had seized a tanker for the second time in less than two weeks.
The official, who was not authorized to comment publicly about the ongoing operation and spoke on condition of anonymity, said Sunday’s search involved “a sanctioned Dark Fleet vessel that is part of Venezuela’s illegal sanctions evasion.”
The official said the ship was flying a false flag and was under judicial seizure order.
The Coast Guard’s pursuit of the tanker was first reported by Reuters.
The seizure of the Panama-flagged ship Centuries before dawn on Saturday targeted white House It has been described as a “false flagged ship operating as part of Venezuela’s shadow fleet to smuggle stolen oil”.
The Coast Guard, with assistance from the Navy, on December 10 seized a sanctioned tanker called Skipper, another part of the shadow fleet of tankers that the US says operate within the law to carry sanctioned cargo. When it was seized by the US Coast Guard, it was not even flying the flag of any country.
After that first seizure, Trump vowed that the US would impose a “blockade” of Venezuela. All this is happening when Trump has intensified his rhetoric. maduro And warned that the longtime Venezuelan leader’s days in power were numbered.
Last week Trump demanded that Venezuela return assets it seized from US oil companies years ago, and justified his announcement of a “blockade” against oil tankers traveling through the South American country that faces US sanctions.
When Trump was asked about his latest strategy in the pressure campaign against Maduro, he cited lost US investments in Venezuela, suggesting that the Republican administration’s actions were at least in part motivated by disputes over oil investments as well as allegations of drug trafficking. Some sanctioned tankers are already turning away from Venezuela.
Venezuela’s petroleum industry was dominated by American oil companies until the country’s leaders nationalized the sector, first in the 1970s and again in the 21st century under Maduro and his predecessor Hugo Chávez. The compensation offered by Venezuela was deemed inadequate, and in 2014, an international arbitration panel ordered the country’s socialist government to pay ExxonMobil $1.6 billion.
The targeting of the tankers comes as Trump has ordered the Defense Department to carry out a series of attacks on ships in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean that his administration alleges are smuggling fentanyl and other illegal drugs into the United States and beyond.
At least 104 people have been killed in 28 known attacks since the beginning of September.