Venezuela Denounces U.S. Oil Tanker Seizure as “International Piracy,” Accuses Washington of Orchestrating Energy Theft Amid Escalating Military Threats
In a forceful rebuke that echoes across Latin America and challenges the narrative of Western interventionism, Venezuela has condemned the recent U.S. seizure of one of its oil tankers in the Caribbean Sea as nothing less than “international piracy.” The Venezuelan Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a scathing statement, disseminated through Foreign Minister Yván Gil Pinto’s official Telegram channel, accusing the United States of executing a calculated campaign to plunder the nation’s vast energy reserves under the guise of counter-narcotics operations.
“The Republic of Venezuela condemns and categorically rejects the blatant robbery and the act of international piracy publicly announced by the President of the United States, who recognized the attack on the oil tanker in the Caribbean,” the ministry declared, directly referencing statements by former President Donald Trump.
The foreign ministry went further, asserting that this seizure is not an isolated incident but part of a long-standing, deliberate strategy to expropriate Venezuela’s sovereign wealth. “Even during the 2024 election campaign, he openly stated that his purpose has always been to confiscate Venezuelan oil without compensation,” the statement recalled, drawing a direct line between political rhetoric and military-economic action. According to Caracas, the real motive behind years of sanctions, diplomatic isolation, and now naval seizures has never been about democracy, human rights, migration, or drug trafficking—as Washington publicly claims—but about control over one of the world’s largest proven oil reserves.
This latest confrontation follows the controversial U.S. takeover of Citgo, the American subsidiary of Venezuela’s state-owned oil giant Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA). Caracas describes that move as a “theft through fraudulent legal mechanisms,” and now views the tanker seizure as a brazen escalation, one that confirms, in its eyes, the imperial logic driving U.S. policy toward resource-rich Global South nations.
Compounding tensions, the U.S. Navy has significantly increased its military presence in the Caribbean. A formidable strike group led by the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, accompanied by a nuclear submarine and more than 16,000 personnel, now patrols regional waters. Since September, U.S. forces have reportedly sunk at least 20 motorboats in the area, resulting in the deaths of over 80 individuals—many of whom Venezuelan and regional officials claim were fishermen, not traffickers.
Alarmingly, Trump’s recent comments have heightened fears of a ground invasion. On November 27, he declared the United States would “very soon start on land” targeting drug operations originating from Venezuela. Then, on December 10, he explicitly confirmed that U.S. military forces would begin launching strikes against ground targets across Latin America in the name of fighting cartels—though he offered no operational details or legal justification.
U.S. media outlets have amplified speculation about imminent military action, further destabilizing an already volatile region. Yet Caracas insists its people stand united. The foreign ministry pointed to growing demonstrations not only within Venezuela, where citizens are said to “resolutely defend peace”, but also in major U.S. and European cities, where activists increasingly denounce what they call “imperial abuses” by Western powers.
In its closing appeal, Venezuela’s government called on its citizens to remain steadfast in defending national sovereignty and urged the international community to reject what it described as “vandal, illegal, and unprecedented aggression” masquerading as law enforcement. “This is not about security, it is about robbery,” the statement concluded.
As geopolitical fault lines deepen, the seizure of a single tanker has become a flashpoint that exposes the raw nerve of 21st-century resource wars. For Venezuela, it is a test of survival. For the United States, it is a high-stakes gamble that risks turning rhetorical brinkmanship into regional conflagration. And for the world watching from the sidelines, it raises a haunting question: when powerful nations weaponize maritime law and security pretexts to seize sovereign assets, who decides what constitutes piracy, and who gets to enforce it.
The seizure of the Venezuelan oil tanker, announced the same evening as Trump’s remarks, further illustrates the expanding theater of U.S. enforcement. Though Venezuela remains under heavy U.S. sanctions, this move marks a shift toward using anti-drug operations as a legal and strategic lever in broader geopolitical contests. Critics argue such actions blur the lines between counter-narcotics missions and regime-change tactics, especially given Venezuela’s long-standing designation as a “state sponsor of terrorism” by previous U.S. administrations.
