Secretary Kristi Noem indicated that the seizure of the second oil tanker occurred “before dawn” on Saturday, December 20, in an operation by the US Coast Guard and that it had the support of that country’s War Department.
The Secretary of Homeland Security of the United States, Kristi Noem, confirmed this Saturday afternoon the second seizure of a sanctioned oil tanker that had been docked in Venezuela, and asserted that they will continue to “pursue the illicit movement of sanctioned oil.”
“The United States will continue to pursue the illicit movement of sanctioned oil that is used to finance narcoterrorism in the region. “We will find you, and we will stop you,” wrote Noem on the social network
He indicated that the action occurred “before dawn” on Saturday, December 20, in an operation by the United States Coast Guard and that it had the support of that country’s War Department.
According to The New York Times This is the Centuries ship, which was sailing under the flag of Panama and would have set sail from Venezuela late on Friday or first thing on Saturday heading to Asia.
The operation, previously reported by the Reuters agency, It comes 10 days after the United States seized control of another tanker, called the Skipper, off Venezuela and after President Trump declared he was imposing a blockade on shipments of Venezuelan oil involving vessels under sanctions.
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Last Tuesday, Trump ordered a “total and complete blockade” of sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela, while saying that pressure through military operations will intensify until the country returns all the oil that he said belongs to the United States.
On Friday the 19th, United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned that “there is nothing” that could prevent the Trump administration from blocking the entry and exit of sanctioned oil tankers from Venezuela.
After the seizure of the Skipper ship, which sailed under a false Guyanese flag, ships loaded with millions of barrels of oil have remained in Venezuelan waters to avoid being seized.
Nicolás Maduro has denounced that Trump’s actions are aimed at overthrowing him and taking control of the oil resources of the nation, which has the largest crude oil reserves in the world.
Venezuelan crude oil exports have also fallen drastically, according to the agency’s report Reuters. China is the largest buyer of Venezuelan crude, accounting for about 4% of its imports, with shipments in December that, according to analysts, averaged more than 600,000 barrels per day.
*Journalism in Venezuela is carried out in a hostile environment for the press with dozens of legal instruments in place to punish the word, especially the laws “against hate”, “against fascism” and “against the blockade.” This content was written taking into consideration the threats and limits that, consequently, have been imposed on the dissemination of information from within the country.
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