CARACAS/WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) – The Venezuelan government has strongly condemned the storming of an oil tanker off the coast of the South American country by the US military. The operation was “a brazen robbery and an act of international piracy,” said a statement from the Foreign Ministry in Caracas.
US soldiers took control of the oil tanker in the Caribbean on Wednesday. US Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI chief Kash Patel justified the extraordinary action by saying that the ship was part of an illegal network to transport oil to support foreign terrorist organizations.
US masses warships off Venezuela’s coast
US forces have assembled a powerful force of warships, fighter jets and soldiers off the coast of Venezuela. Officially, the operation is aimed at drug smuggling. The authoritarian head of state Nicolás Maduro, however, accuses Washington of wanting to force a change of power in Caracas.
“Now the real reasons for the ongoing aggression against Venezuela are becoming apparent. It is not about migration. It is not about drug trafficking. It is not about democracy. It is not about human rights,” said the statement from the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry. “It’s always about our mineral resources, our oil, our energy, about the resources that belong exclusively to the people of Venezuela.”/dde/DP/zb