The US is reportedly pursuing a third vessel off the coast of Venezuela. It comes after video footage on Saturday showed another oil tanker being seized in an operation confirmed by the Department of Homeland Security, as Political Correspondent Carl Dinnen reports.
The US Coast Guard is reportedly pursuing a third vessel off the coast of Venezuela.
The incident comes just days after President Donald Trump announced a “blockade” of all sanctioned oil tankers coming in and out of Venezuela.
The pursuit of the tanker was confirmed by a US official briefed on the operation.
The official, who was not authorised to comment publicly about the ongoing operation and spoke on the condition of anonymity, told the Associated Press that Sunday’s pursuit involved “a sanctioned dark fleet vessel that is part of Venezuela’s illegal sanctions evasion.”
The official said the vessel was flying a false flag and under a judicial seizure order.
Posting to Telegram on Sunday, the Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro said that Venezuela has spent months “denouncing, challenging and defeating a campaign of aggression that goes from psychological terrorism to corsairs attacking oil tankers.”
“We are ready to accelerate the pace of our deep revolution!” he added.
On Saturday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed the US Coast Guard, with help from the Defense Department, stopped another oil tanker that was last docked in Venezuela.
The White House described the Panama-flagged tanker called Centuries as a “falsely flagged vessel operating as part of the Venezuelan shadow fleet to traffic stolen oil.”
On December 10, President Trump confirmed the US had seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela.
As part of his ongoing campaign against immigration, Trump has blamed Maduro for the arrival of a large number of Venezuelan migrants, as well as the influx of drugs – namely fentanyl and cocaine – on US soil.
Trump has long referred to Venezuelan migrants as “criminals” and has repeatedly accused the Venezuelan government of emptying prisons and mental health facilities by sending inmates to the US.
He has also alleged that Maduro, whom he does not recognise as the country’s legitimate leader, is in league with one of the country’s most notorious drug cartels.
Maduro has denied having any links to criminal gangs and said the US is using its “war on drugs” as an excuse to try to get its hands on Venezuela’s vast reserves of oil.
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