Donald Trump’s government increased military pressure on Nicolás Maduro’s regime this weekend with the interception of ships transporting oil from Venezuela.
On Saturday (20), the American Coast Guard intercepted the oil tanker Centuries in international waters, near the coast of Venezuela, which, according to Washington, was transporting oil sanctioned as part of the “ghost fleet” of the Chavista dictatorship.
According to US government investigations, the tanker had recently loaded Venezuelan oil for a Chinese trader.
On Sunday (21), the United States intercepted a second ship near the coast of Venezuela, the tanker called Bella 1 which is under US sanctions for links to Iranian oil.
The American military mobilization led to a maritime “pursuit” after the ship refused to approach. The vessel was sailing towards Caracas to load oil, according to American authorities. CNN.
The ship Bella 1 had not yet entered Venezuelan waters when the action began. According to the newspaper The New York Timesthe cargo that the Bella 1 was supposed to transport had been purchased by a Panamanian businessman recently targeted by United States sanctions for links to the Maduro family.
With the intensification of the campaign this weekend, the United States has already intercepted three ships that were clandestinely transporting oil for the Nicolás Maduro regime.
On the 10th, Washington seized the sanctioned ship Skipper and confiscated the crude oil it was transporting. The vessel was escorted to Galveston, Texas.
Days later, Trump ordered a total blockade of oil tankers sanctioned by the US government entering and leaving the country, as part of pressure on the Maduro regime, whom Washington accuses of leading a drug trafficking network.
The American government announced that it will organize a press conference this Monday, with the presence of Trump, the Secretary of Defense and the Navy, in which it will be able to give details about the recent operations near Venezuela, although it has not confirmed the matter to be commented on this afternoon.
American officials told the Times that the new actions aim to restrict the traffic of oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela to stifle the revenue from oil exports that finance narcoterrorism.
