US seizes vessel in international waters off Venezuela’s coast, officials say
The United States has seized a ship in international waters off the coast of Venezuela, US officials told BBC News partner CBS.
For the second time this month, the USA has seized a ship off the country’s coast.
The move comes after US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he had ordered a “blockade” of sanctioned oil tankers entering and exiting Venezuela.
Venezuela has yet to respond to the latest US seizure but has previously accused Washington of trying to steal its oil resources.
The BBC has contacted the White House for comment.
The operation was led by the US Coast Guard, similar to the operation earlier this month, CBS reported. He was boarded by an expert tactical team.
In recent weeks, the United States has been beefing up its military presence in the Caribbean Sea, launching deadly attacks on boats allegedly smuggling Venezuelan drugs, killing nearly 100 people.
The United States has provided no public evidence that these ships were carrying drugs, and the military has faced increasing scrutiny from Congress over the attacks.
The United States accused Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro of leading a designated terrorist organization called Cartel de los Soles, which Maduro denied.
The Trump administration accuses him and the group of using “stolen” oil to “finance themselves, Drug Terrorism, Human Trafficking, Murder and Kidnapping.”
Venezuela, home to the world’s largest proven oil reserves, relies heavily on revenues from oil exports to finance government spending.
Trump’s “blockade” announcement comes less than a week after the United States seized an oil tanker believed to be part of a “ghost fleet” off the coast of Venezuela that allegedly used various strategies to conceal its operations.
The White House said the ship in question, named Skipper, was involved in “illegal oil transportation” and would be taken to a US port.
The Venezuelan government condemned the move, and Maduro said the US had “kidnapped the crew” and “stolen” the ship.
