New York, US, Dec 20 (EFE) – The United States government confirmed on Saturday that it had intercepted an oil tanker in international waters in the Caribbean Sea off the coast of Venezuela, which, according to media reports, was flying a Panamanian flag.
”In a pre-dawn action early this morning on Dec. 20, the US Coast Guard, with the support of the Department of War, apprehended an oil tanker that was last docked in Venezuela,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote on X.
“The United States will continue to pursue the illicit movement of sanctioned oil that is used to fund narco terrorism in the region. We will find you, and we will stop you,” she added in the post, which includes a video with declassified images of the operation.
This is the second vessel intercepted in the Caribbean by the United States President Donald Trump administration, which last week seized the Skipper and confiscated the crude oil it was carrying.
The operation was originally reported by media outlets such as The New York Times, which confirmed that the detained ship is called Centuries and is not on the list of oil tankers sanctioned by the US, according to a US official and two sources in the Venezuelan oil industry.
The newspaper reports that the ship belongs to a China-based oil company that transports Venezuelan crude oil to refineries in the Asian giant.
Noem did not refer to these reports in her post, and Trump has not yet commented on the matter.
The president has intensified his pressure on Venezuela in recent weeks and recently ordered a total blockade on the entry and exit of oil tankers sanctioned by the US government.
In addition, Trump said Wednesday that Venezuela took away the oil rights of US companies.
”They took all of our oil not that long ago. And we want it back. They took it — they illegally took it,” the president told the press. EFE
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