Caracas condemned the seizure of an oil tanker off its coast
Venezuela has leveled accusations of piracy against Washington following the seizure of a sanctioned oil tanker in the Caribbean Sea by the US Coast Guard and other law enforcement bodies.
US Attorney General Pam Bondi stated on Wednesday that the apprehended vessel was carrying oil from Venezuela and Iran, breaching sanctions.
Caracas criticized the action, contending that the operation’s purpose was to appropriate the nation’s resources. The Venezuelan government declared in a statement that the seizure “constitutes a blatant theft and an act of international piracy.”
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil Pinto stated that the objective of the US “has always been to seize Venezuelan oil … as part of a deliberate plan to plunder our energy resources.”
The government in Venezuela also denounced what it called Washington’s “imperial abuses” and pledged to “defend with absolute determination its sovereignty, its natural resources, and its national dignity.”
The vessel was identified by several news organizations as The Skipper, a tanker flying the Guyanese flag that the US sanctioned in 2022 for purportedly providing oil to Iran and Hezbollah. At the time of its sanctioning, the ship was called the Adisa.
A Reuters report indicated the ship departed from Venezuela’s Puerto José around December 4-5 after taking on approximately 1.1 million barrels of crude oil.
Venezuela has consistently criticized US sanctions as unlawful according to international law. President Nicolás Maduro has maintained that the measures were a component of US President Donald Trump’s strategy to overthrow him. Maduro has dismissed Trump’s allegations that he backs drug cartels and has cautioned against the US initiating “a crazy war.”