Trump announces new action against Maduro government: US forces seize oil tanker

US President Donald Trump speaks to the press in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, in Washington DC, USA on December 10 where he spoke about the US military seizing an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela. - AP PHOTO

US PRESIDENT Donald Trump announced that American forces seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela amid deepening tensions with the Maduro administration. The Trump administration believes Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro should face narcoterrorism charges in the US. It remains unclear under which flag the tanker was sailing.

The seizure came one day after Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar described unidentified vessels as “pirates” if they do not display their flag. She made the comments outside the Red House on December 9.

Persad-Bissessar said boats that do not display their country of origin are treated as pirate vessels and do not receive the protections normally afforded to law-abiding ships.

“My advice is that, within the law, they are treated like pirates and therefore will not have the protection of others carrying a flag and identifying who they are and where they are going. They are basically pirates at sea,” she said.

The tanker seizure came a day after US fighter jets flew over the Gulf of Venezuela, marking the closest approach by American warplanes since tensions escalated between the two nations.

Following the December 10 seizure, Newsday sent a series of questions to Persad-Bissessar asking whether she believed the US had the legal right to seize the tanker; if the matter should have been handled differently under international maritime law, and whether the seizure raised concerns for TT regarding regional maritime security or shipping safety.

Persad-Bissessar said, “Repeat those questions to the PNM,” before offering several additional points in her response.

She said, “I told the country last week the questions raised by the PNM regarding the newly installed radar are a desperate effort to force the government to disclose sensitive national security information to aid the PNM’s long-suspected local drug mafia financiers and Venezuelan criminal collaborators to circumvent surveillance.”

Continuing on the US-installed radar in Tobago, she said the system helps detect Venezuelan crude oil sanction-busting activities and traffickers delivering narcotics, firearms, ammunition, and migrants into TT from Venezuela.

“The PNM’s motive against the American military presence in the Caribbean and the radar systems in TT seems clear. It is to allow the local drug mafia and the Venezuelan sanction evaders to continue to operate unhindered as they did for the past decade,” she concluded.

Persad-Bissessar also pointed to an attached press release from "last week" in which she advised points two, three and four be revisited.

Point two called on the PNM to make public the names of local businesspeople affiliated with the PNM and the local drug mafia who she alleged had illegal access to classified radar surveillance information.

Point three asked the former administration to explain why the existing radar system, operated under them, did not detect oil tankers engaged in ship-to-ship transfers of sanctioned Venezuelan oil in the country's water.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro joins a rally marking the anniversary of the Battle of Santa Ines, which took place during Venezuela's 19th-century Federal War, in Caracas, Venezuela, on December 10. - AP PHOTO

"Transfers that resulted in documentation stating that Trinidad was the port of origin rather than Venezuela," it read.

Point four asked the former administration to explain whether the “anti-American narrative” to remove the US-supplied radar system was actually driven by “pressure or blackmail from the local drug mafia and the previous PNM government’s Venezuelan collaborators,” according to Persad-Bissessar.

The Prime Minister has repeatedly made similar allegations, prompting warnings for her to “cool it” after she accused opposition members of links to paedophiles and narco-traffickers.

Opposition Leader Pennelope Beckles has dismissed the comments as a distraction and cautioned the PM against repeating them, calling the allegations baseless and warning she would explore legal options for defamation.

In a brief WhatsApp message to Newsday on December 10, Defence Minister Wayne Sturge says he is “virtually certain” the absence of a clear and identifiable flag on a vessel would not, on its own, justify its seizure by US authorities.

Sturge said the US would also be unlikely to disclose all the intelligence behind such an operation.

“The US would not believe it prudent to disclose all of the information used, as this would obviously reveal the type of surveillance and other equipment being used to gather intelligence, and this would be counterproductive.”

Sturge said not having full knowledge of the intelligence used by the US, he could not responsibly determine the legality or appropriateness of their actions.

He said the seizure does not raise concerns for him “at this point,” given ongoing regional developments. Sturge said the vessel’s failure to display a flag would naturally be a “red flag” likely to trigger deeper investigation.

Sturge also referenced the history of suspicious activity involving seized tankers over the past decade. He says all surveillance and external assistance that could lead to answers is welcome.

Newsday also reached out to Beckles, Opposition Chief Whip Marvin Gonzales and former energy minister Stuart Young for their views on the seizure but had not received any response by press time.

A subsequent WhatsApp message was sent to all three asking if they believed the US had the legal right to seize the tanker, if it should have been handled differently under international maritime law, and whether the seizure raised concerns for TT regarding regional maritime security or shipping safety.

In Caracas, after the seizure, Maduro warned that Venezuela is “prepared to break the teeth of the North American empire, if necessary,” though he did not mention the tanker directly.

US Attorney General Pam Bondi posted a 45-second video online claiming the tanker was used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran. The clip shows military helicopters approaching the tanker and US troops boarding it.

In February, Trump signed a National Security Presidential Memorandum aimed at restoring maximum pressure on Iran, denying it paths to a nuclear weapon, and countering its influence abroad.

The White House cited the need to neutralise Iran’s terrorist network and counter its missile and weapons development programmes. Iran had supported heavily sanctioned Venezuela during its severe fuel shortage in 2020.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi expressed willingness to talk, saying practical assurances could prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons if hostile measures, including sanctions, were terminated.

Oil prices rose following news of the tanker seizure, with Brent crude up 27 cents to US$62.21 a barrel and US West Texas Intermediate up 21 cents to US$58.46 per barrel.

Since September, the US has conducted more than 20 strikes against suspected drug vessels in the Caribbean and Pacific, killing over 80 people.

The legality of these strikes has been questioned, with critics citing limited evidence that the vessels carried drugs or posed an immediate threat.

Venezuela holds the world’s largest oil reserves, producing about one million barrels per day, but US sanctions have restricted the country’s access to global oil markets.