The United States has seized another tanker linked to Venezuela, US officials told Reuters ahead of a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado. It is the sixth vessel the Americans have seized. It has been hunted since mid-December. The tanker was carrying Venezuelan oil. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the seizure took place in the Caribbean.
VIDEO OF THE DAY
The US Southern Command confirmed the operation, saying that the US military detained the tanker Veronica without incident. It noted that the Veronica “operated in violation of President Trump’s quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean,” Reuters reported.
“The only oil that will leave Venezuela will be oil that is properly and legally coordinated,” the Southern Command said in a statement.
According to shipping documents from state-owned oil company PDVSA and tracking service TankerTrackers.com, the Guyanese-flagged Aframax tanker Veronica left Venezuelan waters empty in early January. The vessel did not return to Venezuela, as other ships have done in recent days, the article said.
ADVERTISING
The seizures began as part of Trump's campaign to remove Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro from power, which culminated in the invasion of the country by US troops on January 3.
Trump later announced that the United States planned to control Venezuela's oil resources indefinitely, seeking to revive the country's neglected oil industry under a $100 billion plan.
Earlier, the media explained what unites the crises in Ukraine, Venezuela, and Greenland.
ADVERTISING