{"id":346685,"date":"2025-12-13T16:36:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-13T16:36:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/346685\/"},"modified":"2025-12-13T16:36:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-13T16:36:08","slug":"cuba-denounces-us-seizure-of-oil-tanker-off-venezuelas-coast-as-piracy-trump-administration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/346685\/","title":{"rendered":"Cuba denounces US seizure of oil tanker off Venezuela\u2019s coast as \u2018piracy\u2019 | Trump administration"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cuban officials have denounced the US seizure of the Skipper<\/a> oil tanker off Venezuela<\/a>\u2019s coast on Wednesday, calling it an \u201cact of piracy and maritime terrorism\u201d as well as a \u201cserious violation of international law\u201d that hurts the Caribbean<\/a> island nation and its people.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis action is part of the US escalation aimed at hampering Venezuela\u2019s legitimate right to freely use and trade its natural resources with other nations, including the supplies of hydrocarbons to Cuba,\u201d the Cuban foreign ministry statement said.<\/a><\/p>\n

The statement added that the US\u2019s action \u201cnegatively affects Cuba<\/a> and intensifies the United States\u2019 policy of maximum pressure and economic suffocation\u201d.<\/p>\n

The tanker, which was reported now to be heading for Galveston, Texas, was believed to loaded with nearly 2m barrels of Venezuela\u2019s heavy crude, according to internal data from the Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA, according to the New York Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Skipper\u2019s destination was listed as the Cuban port of Matanzas, the outlet said. But two days after its departure, it off-loaded an estimated 50,000 barrels to another ship, which then headed north toward Cuba<\/a> while the Skipper headed east toward Asia.<\/p>\n

About 80% of Venezuela\u2019s oil exports, or 663,000 to 746,000 barrels daily, goes to China, according to estimates<\/a>. But Cuba has long relied on Venezuelan oil exports in return for medical expertise, sports instructors and security personnel who surround the Venezuelan president, Nicol\u00e1s Maduro \u2013 and are considered loyal and effective in providing personal protection.<\/p>\n

However, the vast majority of subsidized oil destined for Cuba has been resold to China for badly needed foreign currency, the Times assessed.<\/p>\n

The Venezuela-Cuba component of the Skipper\u2019s seizure comes as Reuters reported that Venezuelan oil exports have reportedly fallen sharply since the tanker was seized. And it comes as the US treasury department imposed new sanctions on shipping companies and vessels doing business with Venezuela<\/a>, as well as on members of Maduro\u2019s family.<\/p>\n

It also comes as the US is reported to have moved more military assets to the Caribbean following deadly strikes on alleged drug boats and the seizure of Skipper. According to the War Zone<\/a> and other outlets<\/a>, additional capabilities to Operation Southern Spear, a counter-narcotics effort that has evolved into a mission to topple Maduro, have arrived at US bases in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.<\/p>\n

They include search and rescue aircraft, rescue helicopters, refueling tankers and EA-18G Growler electronic attack jets \u2013 that could be used to jam Russian-supplied Venezuelan air defense systems \u2013 and additional F-35s.<\/p>\n

The new deployments add to significant combat equipment already in the region, including almost a dozen warships \u2013 including the USS Gerald R Ford, the world\u2019s largest aircraft carrier \u2013 Reaper drones, Poseidon spy planes and F-35s.<\/p>\n

The US effort to interrupt Venezuela\u2019s oil exports and increase pressure on Maduro, who is under indictment on US narco-terrorism charges, parallels efforts to disrupt the global \u201cshadow fleet\u201d of an estimated 1,000 oil tankers believed to be breaking international energy sanctions.<\/p>\n

Tracking data obtained by Reuters indicates<\/a> that 30 of the 80 tankers waiting to load Venezuelan barrels are under sanctions, offering a target for the Trump administration\u2019s \u201cAmerica first\u201d policy that strives \u201cto ensure that the Western Hemisphere remains reasonably stable and well-governed\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In addition to new sanctions on oil companies and vessels suspected of breaking sanctions as well as \u201cpropping up Maduro\u2019s corrupt and illegitimate regime in Venezuela\u201d, the US targeted three of Maduro\u2019s nephews for what it says is involvement in drug trafficking connected to the foreign terrorist-designated Cartel de los Soles.<\/p>\n

The US treasury also announced sanctions on Panamanian businessman Ram\u00f3n Carretero for \u201cfacilitating shipments of petroleum products on behalf of the Venezuelan government\u201d \u2013 and he has been identified<\/a> as an intermediary between Caracas and Havana.<\/p>\n

Venezuela has condemned<\/a> the US seizure of the Skipper as \u201cblatant theft and an act of international piracy\u201d.<\/p>\n

Freddy \u00d1\u00e1\u00f1ez, Venezuela\u2019s communications minister, accused Washington of \u201cpiracy, kidnapping, theft of private property\u201d.<\/p>\n

Late Friday, the US attorney\u2019s office for the District of Columbia unsealed a warrant for the Skipper\u2019s seizure<\/a> after previously identifying the vessel as part of an oil shipping network supporting terrorism-designated Hezbollah and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF).<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the premiere United States attorney\u2019s office leading efforts to intercept ghost vessels as well as sanctioned products, we remain committed to legally supporting [Trump administration] efforts to make the world a safer place,\u201d US attorney Jeanine Pirro said.<\/p>\n

The FBI director, Kash Patel, said: \u201cThe seizure of this vessel highlights our successful efforts to impose costs on the governments of Venezuela and Iran.\u201d Patel added that FBI counterintelligence \u201cwill continue to enforce US sanctions and cut off our adversaries from financial markets and critical technology\u201d.<\/p>\n

The warrant authorized the seizure of \u201call assets, foreign or domestic \u2026 of any individual, entity, or organization engaged in planning or perpetrating any federal crime of terrorism against the United States, citizens or residents of the United States, or their property, and all assets, foreign or domestic, affording any person a source of influence over any such entity or organization.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cuban officials have denounced the US seizure of the Skipper oil tanker off Venezuela\u2019s coast on Wednesday, calling…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":346686,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-346685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=346685"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346685\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/346686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=346685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=346685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=346685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}