US forces seize 7th oil tanker in Caribbean

WASHINGTON — The US military said it seized a "Venezuela-linked" tanker on Tuesday in the Caribbean, marking the seventh such apprehension since the start of the US' monthlong campaign to control Venezuela's oil flows.

The US military's Southern Command, which is overseeing nearly a dozen warships and thousands of troops in the Caribbean, said in a statement it apprehended the Sagitta "without incident".

"The apprehension of another tanker operating in defiance of President (Donald) Trump's established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean demonstrates our resolve to ensure that the only oil leaving Venezuela will be oil that is coordinated properly and lawfully," it said in a statement.

US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said earlier this month that the United States will not only market the stored oil in Venezuela but also control the sales of oil output from the country indefinitely.

Trump ordered "a total and complete blockade" of all sanctioned oil tankers going into and out of Venezuela in mid-December, days after the US forces seized the first oil tanker linked to the oil-rich South American nation.

Trump has focused his foreign policy in Latin America on Venezuela. He ordered US forces to fly into the country to seize President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in a daring overnight raid on Jan 3. The US raid has triggered strong international condemnation, with many governments and analysts warning that the action sets a dangerous precedent for the use of force against a sovereign state.

Since then, Trump has said the US plans to control Venezuela's oil resources indefinitely as it seeks to rebuild the country's dilapidated oil industry in a $100 billion plan.

In Venezuela, Acting President Delcy Rodriguez said on Tuesday that her country has received $300 million from a US sale of Venezuelan crude — part of an estimated $500 million in total revenue — and will use the fund to stabilize the foreign exchange market.

Trump said separately on Tuesday that his country had taken 50 million barrels of oil out of Venezuela and was selling some of it on the open market, although shipping records show that the volume has not yet been exported.

Speaking at an event in Caracas, Rodriguez said the fund will be channeled through public and private banks, in coordination with the Central Bank of Venezuela, to help stabilize the foreign exchange market. Venezuela sits atop around a fifth of the world's reserves, roughly 300 billion barrels of heavy, sour crude.

On Monday, parliament, which is controlled by her brother Jorge Rodriguez, announced plans to reform 29 laws, including those on foreign investment in the oil sector.

Currently, foreign companies are only allowed to operate in joint ventures with state-owned oil firm PDVSA, which insists on holding a majority.

Opposition voiced

Meanwhile, Venezuela on Tuesday rejected a map depicted in an altered picture posted on Trump's social media accounts that depicted the country as a US territory.

"The National Government reaffirms that the Republic is and will be the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela," the Ministry of the Interior, Justice and Peace said on social media in response.

The image "shows a map of the Americas, altered using artificial intelligence, in which Venezuela, Greenland, and Canada appear as if they were US territories", said the ministry.

Also on Tuesday, Trump said he was considering involving Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado in some capacity in her country, but did not say what role she could play.

"We're talking to her and maybe we can get her involved in some way. I'd love to be able to do that; Maria, maybe we can do that,"Trump told reporters at the White House, referring to Machado, who met Trump last week and gave him her Nobel Peace Prize.

Agencies - Xinhua