The Coast Guard seized a vessel off Venezuela’s coast, the first such seizure since President Donald Trump declared a blockade of all vessels carrying Venezuelan oil.
U.S. officials first told Reuters that an interdiction operation to seize a sanctioned vessel in international waters off the coast of Venezuela was underway on Saturday. Several other outlets have since confirmed the developments. The Coast Guard was taking the lead in the operation.
The Washington Examiner reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for confirmation and further comment.
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Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed the operation to NBC News, saying it was a successful one, “to ensure that we’re pushing back on a regime that is systematically covering and flooding our country with deadly drugs and killing our next generation of Americans.”
One official told the outlet that other branches of the U.S. military were supporting the operation with helicopters to drop off Coast Guard personnel and conduct reconnaissance.
The first operation to seize an oil tanker occurred last week, when the sanctioned Skipper was seized by U.S. military personnel deployed from helicopters. Saturday’s operation is the second vessel seizure, but the first since Trump’s announcement of a blockade.
Trump announced the blockade in a threatening message on Truth Social on Tuesday, boasting that the South American nation was “completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America.” He warned that pressure would only increase and demanded the government “return to the United States of America all of the Oil, Land, and other Assets that they previously stole from us.”
“For the theft of our Assets, and many other reasons, including Terrorism, Drug Smuggling, and Human Trafficking, the Venezuelan Regime has been designated a FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION. Therefore, today, I am ordering A TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE OF ALL SANCTIONED OIL TANKERS going into, and out of, Venezuela,” Trump declared.
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The theft Trump repeatedly derides refers to the nationalization of foreign oil assets in the country by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chavez, in 2007. The president said all assets must be returned to the U.S. “IMMEDIATELY.”
Tensions have continued to escalate throughout the week, with more sanctions against Maduro’s associates and warnings from Venezuela’s allies.
