Venezuela considers the detention of an oil tanker by the US in the Caribbean Sea an act of international piracy. This is stated in a statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, published on the Telegram channel of Foreign Minister Ivan Gil Pinto.
“The Republic of Venezuela condemns and categorically rejects the blatant robbery and act of international piracy publicly announced by the President of the United States, who acknowledged the attack on the oil tanker in the Caribbean“, the Foreign Ministry said.
“Even during the 2024 election campaign, he openly stated that his goal was always to confiscate Venezuelan oil without compensation and clearly stated that the policy of aggression against our country is part of a deliberate plan to appropriate our energy wealth“, the ministry recalled.
The ministry indicated that the confiscation of the tanker is another criminal act after the theft "through fraudulent legal mechanisms" of Citgo, the US subsidiary of Venezuela's state-owned oil and gas company Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA). According to the statement, the US actions confirm the “real reasons for the continued aggression against Venezuela“, which are not migration, drug trafficking, democracy or human rights, but “natural resources, energy and oil, which belong exclusively to the Venezuelan people“.
The document also mentions the widespread demonstrations in the US and European countries against the imperial abuses of the West, as well as the protests in the streets of Venezuela, where “the people are resolutely defending peace“.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stressed that the authorities of the republic “call on the Venezuelan people to remain steadfast in defending their homeland, and on the international community to reject this vandalistic, illegal and unprecedented aggression as a legitimate instrument of pressure and “robbery“.
Washington has baselessly accused Kakrakas of failing to adequately combat drug trafficking. The US Navy has deployed a strike group of ships led by the aircraft carrier “Gerald R. Ford“, a nuclear submarine and more than 16,000 servicemen to the Caribbean Sea. Since September, the US military has sunk at least 20 motor boats in the region, killing more than 80 people.
US media have repeatedly reported that the United States may soon begin strikes on the republic. On November 27, Trump said that Washington “will very soon begin on land“ the fight against drug trafficking from Venezuela, but did not provide details of potential military operations. On December 10, he confirmed that the US military would begin striking ground targets in Latin America to combat drug cartels.