Washington– US forces on Saturday stopped a ship off the coast of Venezuela for the second time in less than two weeks as President Donald Trump continues to ramp up pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
The move, confirmed by two US officials familiar with the matter, comes days after Trump announced a “blockade” on all sanctioned oil tankers coming in and out of the South American country, and following the December 10 seizure of an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela by US forces.
The video in the player above is from a previous report.
The officials were not allowed to discuss the ongoing military operation publicly, and spoke on condition of anonymity. One official described the procedure as an “approved boarding of the ship,” as the tanker voluntarily stopped and allowed US forces to board it.
Pentagon and White House officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Trump pledged after the seizure of the first tanker this month that the United States would implement a blockade of Venezuela. It all comes as Trump has escalated his rhetoric toward Maduro and warned that the longtime Venezuelan leader’s days in power are numbered.
This week, Trump demanded that Venezuela return the assets it seized from American oil companies years ago, once again justifying his announcement of a “siege” on oil tankers traveling to and from the South American country that faces US sanctions.
Trump cited lost US investments in Venezuela when asked about his latest tactics in the pressure campaign against Maduro, suggesting that the Republican administration’s moves are at least somewhat motivated by disputes over oil investments, along with accusations of drug trafficking. Some sanctioned tankers have already begun diverting away from Venezuela.
“We’re not going to let anyone pass who shouldn’t pass,” Trump told reporters earlier this week. “You remember they took all our energy rights. They took all our oil not long ago. And we want it back. They took it, they took it illegally.”
American oil companies dominated Venezuela’s oil industry until the country’s leaders moved to nationalize the sector, first in the 1970s and again in the 21st century under Maduro and his predecessor Hugo Chavez. The compensation provided by Venezuela was deemed insufficient, and in 2014 an international arbitration panel ordered the country’s socialist government to pay $1.6 billion to Exxon Mobil.
The targeting of tankers comes as Trump ordered the Department of Defense to carry out a series of attacks on ships in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific that his administration claims are smuggling fentanyl and other illicit drugs into the United States and beyond.
At least 104 people have been killed in 28 known raids since early September.
The strikes have faced scrutiny from US lawmakers and human rights activists, who say the administration has provided little evidence that its targets are actually drug traffickers, and that the deadly strikes amount to extrajudicial killing.
The Coast Guard, with occasional assistance from the Navy, typically intercepted suspected drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean Sea, searched for illicit goods, and arrested the people on board for prosecution.
The administration justified the strikes as necessary, stressing that it was in an “armed conflict” with drug gangs with the aim of stopping the flow of drugs into the United States. Maduro faces federal charges of drug-related terrorism in the United States
The United States in recent months has sent a fleet of warships to the region, the largest troop buildup in generations, and Trump has repeatedly said ground attacks are coming soon.
Maduro insists that the real goal of US military operations is to force him from power.
White House chief of staff Susie Wiles said in an interview with Vanity Fair published this week that Trump “wants to keep blowing up boats until Maduro cries.”
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