Maia Davies
The United States has enacted new sanctions on six additional vessels believed to be transporting Venezuelan oil, merely a day after seizing a tanker off the nation’s coastline.
Sanctions have also been imposed on relatives of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and businesses linked to what Washington denounces as his illegitimate regime.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt informed the media that the captured ship, named the Skipper, had been engaged in “illicit oil transportation” and will be directed to a port in America.
Caracas has labeled it an act of “international piracy”.
This signifies a significant intensification in the US’s pressure campaign against Maduro, which has resulted in numerous fatalities during strikes on vessels thought to be smuggling drugs from Venezuela. Recently, American naval ships have been advancing into the area.
The Trump administration has alleged that Venezuela is funneling drugs into the US. In turn, Venezuela—home to some of the largest confirmed oil reserves globally—has accused Washington of attempting to steal its resources. Maduro pledged on Wednesday that Venezuela would never turn into an “oil colony”.
However, the White House press secretary stated on Thursday that the US is dedicated to both “halting the illegal drug flow” into the nation and enforcing sanctions.
She declined to elaborate on whether the US intended to seize additional ships carrying Venezuelan oil.
“We will not passively allow sanctioned vessels to traverse the seas with black market oil, the profits from which will fuel narco-terrorism of rogue and illegitimate regimes worldwide,” Leavitt asserted.
She noted that the US aims to confiscate the oil aboard the Skipper, following the appropriate legal procedures.
Leavitt also mentioned that Trump would not be “concerned at all” to learn that Russian President Vladimir Putin had called Maduro earlier in the day to extend Moscow’s support “amid increasing external pressure”.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent subsequently announced that imposing sanctions on three of Maduro’s wife’s nephews, along with several businesses and ships, would address the leader’s “brutal and dictatorial control”.
In a post on X, he stated that the Trump administration is “holding the regime and its circle of cronies and enterprises accountable for its ongoing crimes”.
On Wednesday, the White House unveiled dramatic footage of the operation showing camouflaged soldiers descending onto the Skipper from a helicopter and patrolling its deck, weapons drawn.
The Venezuelan government strongly condemned the seizure, with Maduro claiming the US “kidnapped the crew” and “took” the ship.
“They have initiated a new epoch,” the Venezuelan president stated in a speech on Thursday. “The epoch of criminal naval piracy in the Caribbean.”
Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello referred to the US as “murderers, thieves, pirates” and asserted that this is how the country has “commenced wars all over the planet”.
The US Treasury Department had sanctioned the Skipper vessel in 2022, as reported by CBS, for its alleged role in oil smuggling that profited Hezbollah and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force.
The US had intensified its military presence in the Caribbean Sea, which borders Venezuela to the north, in the lead-up to the raid.
This involved thousands of troops and the USS Gerald Ford – the largest aircraft carrier in the world – being positioned within striking range of Venezuela.
