Venezuela’s allies condemn Trump administration’s oil tanker seizure: ‘They are thieves’ | EUROtoday

Venezuela’s regional allies have publicly backed the federal government, condemning the Trump administration’s seizure of an oil tanker final week.

The incident concerned the Skipper tanker, which was intercepted off Venezuela’s coast final Wednesday, marking the primary time the U.S. has captured Venezuelan oil cargo since sanctions have been imposed in 2019.

Support for President Nicolas Maduro was voiced throughout a televised digital assembly of the leftist ALBA bloc, comprising Caribbean and Latin American nations. This present of solidarity comes amidst an escalating U.S. navy buildup within the southern Caribbean.

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel underscored the gravity of the state of affairs through the summit, stating: “Latin America and the Caribbean today face threats that don’t have precedent in the last decades.”

Referring to the U.S. seizure of the tanker, Nicaragua’s co-President Daniel Ortega exclaimed, “they are thieves.”

The results of the seizure might ripple by means of the area, with Venezuelan oil exports falling sharply and Cuba, already straining to energy its grid, susceptible to shedding provide.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration doesn’t acknowledge Maduro, in energy since 2013, as Venezuela’s legit chief. The area has change into more and more tense because the U.S. has issued lethal strikes in opposition to suspected drug trafficking boats off the Venezuelan coast and within the japanese Pacific Ocean. Maduro has stated that Trump is in search of to oust him.

At the summit, Maduro known as for the ALBA bloc to withstand what he described as illegal interference within the area.

“The colonizer project will not occur,” he stated. “We will be free.”