One more step in the escalation of US tension against Venezuela. The US Army has intercepted and confiscated an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela this Wednesday, as US President Donald Trump announced at the White House: “We have just seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela. A large, very large oil tanker, the largest ever seen, and other things are happening that you will see later.”
And what is going to happen to that oil? “We’ll keep it, I guess,” Trump responded.
“Today, the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and the United States Coast Guard, with the support of the Department of War, have executed a seizure order for a tanker used to transport sanctioned crude oil from Venezuela and Iran,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in “It was carried out safely and securely, and our investigation continues alongside the Department of Homeland Security to prevent the transportation of sanctioned oil.”
According to Bloomberg, the US has carried out “judicial action against a ship without a flag” that had docked in Venezuela. State oil company PetrĂłleos de Venezuela SA and Venezuela’s oil and information ministries have not responded to requests for comment.
The action of the United States, which is one more step in the tension with the Government of Nicolás Maduro, involves blocking the export of oil by Venezuela. Most of Venezuela’s oil goes to China, Bloomberg reports.
In a speech after a farmers’ march in Caracas, Nicolás Maduro has assured that his country is prepared “to break the teeth of the North American empire if necessary”. “The same productive hands that we have are the hands that grab the rifles, the tanks, the missiles to defend this sacred land from any invading empire, from any aggressor empire.”
The seizure of the oil tanker was announced on the same day that MarĂa Corina Machado, leader of the Venezuelan opposition and supporter of foreign intervention to depose the country’s president, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
“Petro will be next”
The US president has also issued threats to the Colombian president, Gustavo Petro: “He has been quite hostile to the United States. He is going to have big problems if he does not see reason. He produces a lot of drugs, they have factories that produce cocaine and sell it directly in the United States. So he better come to reason, or he will be next. He will be next. I hope he is listening. He will be next.”
Extrajudicial killings and pressure from Congress
“What I saw in that room was one of the most disturbing things I have seen in my public career.” Connecticut Representative Jim Himes, the Democratic leader of the House Intelligence Committee, expressed himself like this after watching the video of the September 2 attack that the Pentagon showed them behind closed doors in which two survivors are seen being killed: “There are two people in a clear situation of danger, with a destroyed boat, who were murdered by the United States.”
The same day that Admiral Frank ‘Mitch’ Bradley appeared before Congress to give explanations about that attack, the US Army reported a new sinking in the Eastern Pacific: “On December 4, under the direction of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Joint Task Force Southern Spear carried out a lethal attack against a vessel in international waters operated by a designated terrorist organization. Intelligence services confirmed that it was transporting illicit narcotics and transiting along a known drug trafficking route in the eastern Pacific. Four male narcoterrorists aboard the ship were killed.”
Thus, the figure rises to 87 extrajudicial murders in total. Without trial, without evidence, of defenseless civilians.
The attacks against alleged ‘drug boats’ that began on September 2 in the waters of the Caribbean and the Eastern Pacific, and three months later, are beginning to take their toll on the Trump Administration. Thus, the Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, is under pressure from the Senate and the House of Representatives for having ordered the finishing off of two survivors in the first sinkingwhich ended with 11 extrajudicial murders.
Both Republicans and Democrats in Congress have opened investigations into what could constitute a war crime for the execution of people adrift, and this Thursday the commander who, according to the Trump Administration, ordered the second attack, Admiral Frank ‘Mitch’ Bradley, appeared at the Capitol.
A subsequent attack at the end of September has led the family of a Colombian to file a formal complaint with the main human rights monitoring body on the American continent. The petition from Alejandro Carranza’s family claims that the army bombed their fishing boat on September 15, violating human rights conventions.
The House of Representatives was without activity for almost two months because Republicans did not want political pressure during the government shutdown. But once it is overcome, the resolutions registered to avoid an attack on Venezuela that Donald Trump has been telegraphing since September accumulate.
The last one, registered, on Tuesday of last week, says the following: “Congress orders the president to withdraw the United States Armed Forces from hostilities within Venezuela or against this country, unless explicitly authorized by a declaration of war or a specific legal authorization for the use of military force.”
The resolution has been promoted by Massachusetts Democratic Representative James McGovern, and supported by Kentucky Republican Thomas Massie.
And last Wednesday, Senate Democrats, along with Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), introduced another war powers resolution to prevent the White House from using the military in hostilities with Venezuela without congressional approval.
The resolution, introduced by Paul and Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), directs Trump to stop using the military “unless specifically authorized by a declaration of war or a specific authorization for the use of military force.”
Source: www.eldiario.es
