The dictator of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, declared this Thursday (11) that the capture of the tanker that left a Venezuelan port by the United States on Wednesday (10) was an “act of criminal naval piracy”. Maduro also said the cargo ship’s crew was kidnapped by Donald Trump’s government.
“They kidnapped the crew, stole the boat and ushered in a new era, that of criminal naval piracy in the Caribbean,” the dictator said at a rally in Caracas. “Yesterday, (Trump’s) mask fell. The supremacists who rule the United States want a war in South America.”
Maduro also said he must challenge the capture of the tanker in international forums. “Venezuela will guarantee that all ships can freely trade their oil with the world.”
US authorities interviewed by the Reuters news agency say that the US armed forces are already monitoring a series of other tankers that are in Venezuelan waters and that they could be targeted for capture as soon as they leave the country’s territorial space.
If the measure is repeated, the consequence could be the suffocation of the Venezuelan economy. The country has the largest oil reserves in the world and its economy depends on exports of this product. The capture of the tanker on Wednesday was Washington’s first direct interference in what is the main source of income for Nicolas Maduro’s regime: Venezuela’s oil exports have China as their main destination.
On Thursday, the White House said the cargo ship would be taken to a U.S. port and the Venezuelan oil it was carrying would be confiscated. According to press secretary Karoline Leavitt, Washington will gain ownership of the ship’s cargo “through a legal process.” She added that the vessel was the subject of a seizure warrant issued by the U.S. Department of Justice.
US Justice Secretary Pam Bondi said on Wednesday that the capture was carried out by the FBI and the Departments of Homeland Security and Defense in an effort to seize a vessel “used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran” that would be used to “finance terrorist organizations.”
According to information published in the American press, the captured vessel is the tanker Skipper, a Guyanese-flagged boat which is accused by the United States of participating in trade with Iran. At approximately 330 meters long and 60 meters wide, the Skipper belongs to the VLCC (Very Large Crude Oil Cargo) category, a type of vessel capable of carrying up to 2 million barrels of oil — a cargo that could be worth between 120 million US dollars (650 million reais) and 160 million US dollars (865 million reais).
Also this Thursday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov criticized the American operation. “I hope that the United States, even if it considers itself entitled to carry out such actions, will be able to explain, as a sign of respect to the international community, what facts guided its decision,” declared the Chancellor, recalling that, despite the sanctions, the American company Chevron operates in Venezuela, with the agreement of Washington.
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