US President Donald Trump said that “other things are happening” but did not offer additional details, saying he would talk about the issue later. The seizure comes to light on the same day that María Corina Machado was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
President Donald Trump claimed that the United States has seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, amid growing tensions with the administration of Nicolás Maduro over the US military deployment in the Caribbean.
“We just seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, a large oil tanker, a very large one, in fact the largest ever seized,” the president told reporters at the White House.
This is one of the latest efforts by the Trump administration to increase pressure on Maduro, who has been accused of terrorist activities and leading a drug trafficking cartel.
Trump expressed that “other things are happening” but did not offer additional details, saying he would talk more about the issue later.
The seizure was made in an effort led by the U.S. Coast Guard and supported by the Navy, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The operation comes to light on the same day that María Corina Machado, leader of the Venezuelan opposition, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. It could also make it considerably more difficult to country’s oil exportwhich mainly goes to China, usually through intermediaries and at deep discounts due to the risk of sanctions.
A day earlier, the US Army flew a pair of fighter jets near Lake Maracaibo in what appeared to be the closest warplanes had come to Venezuelan airspace since the start of the pressure campaign.
*Read also: Petro urges Maduro: “It is time for a general amnesty and a transitional government”
The United States authorized a series of deadly attacks on suspected drug smuggling vessels in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, leaving at least 83 people dead. Trump has said there will be ground attacks soon, but has offered no further details about the operation.
Among the concessions that the United States has made to Maduro during past negotiations is approval for the oil company Chevron Corp. to resume the extraction and export of Venezuelan oil. The corporation’s activities have been a financial lifeline for the so-called “Bolivarian revolution.”
With information from AP and Bloomberg
*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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