Trump escalates in Venezuela with military seizure of oil tanker

TheUS militaryon Wednesday seized anoiltanker off the coast ofVenezuelain the latest act of aggression against a nation that PresidentDonald Trumphas been openly threatening for several weeks.

Bloomberg, which described the move as a “serious escalation” in tensions between the US and Venezuela, reported that the seizure of the tanker by US forces “may make it much harder for Venezuela to export its oil, as other shippers are now likely to be more reluctant to load its cargoes.”

The seizure was described toBloombergby aTrump administrationofficial as a “judicial enforcement action on a stateless vessel” that had been docked in Venezuela.

Shortly after the seizure occurred, Trump boasted about it during a meeting with business leaders at theWhite House, declaring that the tanker was the “largest one ever seized.”

Just Foreign Policy, a progressive think tank and advocacy group,condemnedthe seizure of the tanker, describing it as an “illegal US move to take control of Venezuela’s natural resources and strangle the economy, which is already struggling under indiscriminate USsanctions,” and warning that “millions of civilians will be at risk if the economy deteriorates and tensions rise.”

The seizure of the oil tanker is just one of many aggressive maneuvers that the Trump administration has been making around Venezuela.

Starting in September, the administration began a series of killings of people aboard boats in the Caribbean Sea off the coast of Venezuela and in the Pacific Ocean.

The Trump administration has claimed those targeted for extrajudicial killing are drug smugglers and accused Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro of leading an international drug trafficking organization called the Cartel de los Soles, despite many expertssayingthat they have seen no evidence that such an organization formally exists.

Trump late last month further escalated tensions with Venezuela when hedeclaredthat airspace over the nation was “closed in its entirety,” even though he lacks any legal authority to enforce such a decree. Trump has also hinted that strikes against purported drug traffickers on Venezuelan soil would occur in the near future.

This article originally published by Common Dreams is republished under a Creative Commons license.