Second oil tanker seized off coast of Venezuela

U.S. forces stopped another vessel off the coast of Venezuela as President Trump ramps up pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

“In a pre-dawn action early this morning on Dec. 20, the U.S. Coast Guard with the support of the Department of War apprehended an oil tanker that was last docked in Venezuela,” Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote on X Saturday.

“The United States will continue to pursue the illicit movement of sanctioned oil that is used to fund narco terrorism in the region,” she wrote. 

The president designated the Venezuelan government a “terrorist organization” Tuesday and ordered a “complete and total” blockade of sanctioned oil tankers moving in and out of the country.

This is just the latest pressure on Mr. Maduro to get him to leave his country. The U.S. has said Mr. Maduro is a drug lord who aids the passage of drugs into the U.S.

Venezuela has the world’s largest oil reserves and produces roughly 1 million barrels a day. 

“The illegitimate Maduro Regime is using Oil from these stolen Oil Fields to finance themselves, Drug Terrorism, Human Trafficking, Murder, and Kidnapping,” Mr. Trump wrote on social media Tuesday. “For the theft of our Assets, and many other reasons, including Terrorism, Drug Smuggling, and Human Trafficking, the Venezuelan Regime has been designated a FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION.”

The terrorist designation for Venezuela came a week after the U.S. seized the first oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela. The oil industry in the country has been crippled by the steep U.S. sanctions imposed by Mr. Trump and former President Biden.

The Trump administration says the boat was being used to transport oil from Venezuela to Iran, two countries whose oil industries have been sanctioned by the U.S. The president said the U.S. will keep the oil.

The Department of Defense has also carried out a series of strikes against alleged drug boats coming out of the region. Some 28 boats have been struck, and at least 104 people have been killed.

The administration has been building up a military presence in the region. Aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford has also been deployed to the area, along with 11 warships, airplanes and thousands of troops.

Mr. Trump has also said that land strikes on Venezuela could be impending.

The Venezuelan government has said the tanker seizures are “blatant theft and an act of international piracy.”

But White House chief of staff Susie Wiles said in a recently published article in Vanity Fair that the president “wants to keep on blowing boats up until Maduro cries uncle.”