The U.S. said on Wednesday it had seized a Russian-flagged, Venezuela-linked tanker as part of President Donald Trump’s aggressive push to dictate oil flows in the Americas and force Caracas’ socialist government to become its ally.
Having deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, Washington is blockading sanctioned vessels in and out of waters off the South American OPEC member. The U.S. Coast Guard and military apprehended the Marinera tanker that refused to be boarded last month and switched to Moscow’s flag, officials said.
With a Russian submarine and vessels nearby after a two-week pursuit in the Atlantic, the move risked more confrontation with Moscow which has condemned U.S. actions over Venezuela and is already at odds with the West due to the Ukraine war.
Russian state broadcaster RT showed an image of a helicopter hovering near the Marinera, originally known as the Bella-1, and said it looked like U.S. forces were trying to board the U.S.-sanctioned tanker, which is empty.
The U.S. Coast Guard also intercepted another fully-loaded Venezuela-linked tanker, Sophia, near the northeast coast of South America, the officials said, in the fourth such case of recent weeks.
CHINA CONDEMNS US ‘BULLYING’
Trump’s administration was also pressing a deal with Venezuela to divert supplies from Beijing and import up to $2 billion worth of crude.
The deal could initially require cargoes bound for Venezuela’s top buyer China to be rerouted as Caracas seeks to unload millions of barrels stranded in tankers and storage.
“The United States’ brazen use of force against Venezuela and its demand for ‘America First’ when Venezuela disposes of its own oil resources are typical acts of bullying,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told a press conference.
Trump has openly spoken of controlling Venezuela’s vast oil reserves, in conjunction with U.S. oil companies, after the removal of Maduro whom he has cast as a drug-trafficking dictator in league with Washington’s foes.
Maduro’s Socialist Party allies remain in power in Venezuela, where interim President Delcy Rodriguez is treading a fine line between denouncing his “kidnapping” and kick-starting cooperation with the U.S. under explicit threats from Trump.
He said the U.S. would refine and sell up to 50 million barrels of crude stuck in Venezuela under a U.S. blockade as a first step in his plan to revive a sector long in decline despite sitting on the largest reserves in the world.
“This Oil will be sold at its Market Price, and that money will be controlled by me, as President of the United States of America, to ensure it is used to benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States!” Trump posted on Tuesday.
Sources at state oil company PDVSA told Reuters negotiations for an export deal had progressed, though Venezuela’s government made no official announcement.
Crude oil prices fell on world markets due to anticipated increased supplies released by Trump’s plan.
China, Russia and leftist allies of Venezuela have all denounced the U.S. raid to capture Maduro, which was Washington’s biggest such intervention in Latin America since the 1989 invasion of Panama to topple Manuel Noriega.
Washington’s allies are also deeply uneasy at the extraordinary precedent of seizing a foreign head of state, with Trump making a slew of threats of more action - from Mexico to Greenland - to further U.S. interests.
DOZENS DIED DURING CAPTURE OF MADURO
Some details are still sketchy on just how U.S. Special Forces swooped into Caracas by helicopter under darkness on Saturday, smashing Maduro’s security cordon and seizing him at the door of a safe room, with no loss of U.S. lives.
Venezuela has not confirmed its total losses, though the army posted a list of 23 of its dead and ally Cuba said 32 members of its military and intelligence services died.
Maduro, 63, who had ruled Venezuela since the 2013 death of his predecessor and mentor Hugo Chavez, pleaded not guilty on Monday to narcotics charges in a Manhattan court where he was shackled at the ankles and wore orange and beige prison garb.
Trump appears to be calculating that it is better for stability in Venezuela to work with Maduro’s senior allies for now. He is stressing revival of the oil sector with the help of U.S. firms as the priority, not the freeing of political prisoners or a new vote for a democratic transition.
VENEZUELAN OPPOSITION KEPT WAITING
Venezuela’s main anti-Maduro figure Maria Corina Machado, who left in disguise to pick up the Nobel Peace Prize in October, wants to return home where she says the opposition would easily win a free vote.
But she is also taking care not to antagonise Trump, saying she would like to personally give him the Nobel prize which he had coveted and which she dedicated to him at the time. She backs Trump’s desire to make Venezuela a major ally and the energy hub of the Americas.
While working with Rodriguez and other top Venezuelan officials, the U.S. has warned they must cooperate or risk sharing Maduro’s fate.
Hardline Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, who controls security forces accused of widespread rights abuses, is under particular scrutiny, sources told Reuters.
Rodriguez herself is under U.S. sanctions, with her foreign financial assets identified as potential leverage, one source briefed on U.S. administration thinking said.
Source: Reuters
-Agencies
