Cuba denounces US seizure of oil tanker off Venezuela’s coast as ‘piracy’

Cuban officials have denounced the US seizure of the Skipper oil tanker off Venezuela’s coast on Wednesday, calling it an “act of piracy and maritime terrorism” as well as a “serious violation of international law” that hurts the Caribbean island nation and its people.

“This action is part of the US escalation aimed at hampering Venezuela’s legitimate right to freely use and trade its natural resources with other nations, including the supplies of hydrocarbons to Cuba,” the Cuban foreign ministry statement said.

The statement added that the US’s action “negatively affects Cuba and intensifies the United States’ policy of maximum pressure and economic suffocation”.

The tanker, which was reported now to be heading for Galveston, Texas, was believed to loaded with nearly 2m barrels of Venezuela’s heavy crude, according to internal data from the Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA, according to the New York Times.

The Skipper’s destination was listed as the Cuban port of Matanzas, the outlet said. But two days after its departure, it off-loaded an estimated 50,000 barrels to another ship, which then headed north toward Cuba while the Skipper headed east toward Asia.

About 80% of Venezuela’s oil exports, or 663,000 to 746,000 barrels daily, goes to China, according to estimates. But Cuba has long relied on Venezuelan oil exports in return for medical expertise, sports instructors and security personnel who surround the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro – and are considered loyal and effective in providing personal protection.

However, the vast majority of subsidized oil destined for Cuba has been resold to China for badly needed foreign currency, the Times assessed.

The Venezuela-Cuba component of the Skipper’s seizure comes as Reuters reported that Venezuelan oil exports have reportedly fallen sharply since the tanker was seized. And it comes as the US treasury department imposed new sanctions on shipping companies and vessels doing business with Venezuela, as well as on members of Maduro’s family.

The US effort to interrupt Venezuela’s oil exports and increase pressure on Maduro, who is under indictment on US narco-terrorism charges, parallels efforts to disrupt the global “shadow fleet” of an estimated 1,000 oil tankers believed to be breaking international energy sanctions.

Tracking data obtained by Reuters indicates that 30 of the 80 tankers waiting to load Venezuelan barrels are under sanctions, offering a target for the Trump administration’s “America first” policy that strives “to ensure that the Western Hemisphere remains reasonably stable and well-governed”.

In addition to new sanctions on oil companies and vessels suspected of breaking sanctions as well as “propping up Maduro’s corrupt and illegitimate regime in Venezuela”, the US targeted three of Maduro’s nephews for what it says is involvement in drug trafficking connected to the foreign terrorist-designated Cartel de los Soles.

The US treasury also announced sanctions on Panamanian businessman Ramón Carretero for “facilitating shipments of petroleum products on behalf of the Venezuelan government” – and he has been identified as an intermediary between Caracas and Havana.

Venezuela has condemned the US seizure of the Skipper as “blatant theft and an act of international piracy”.

Freddy Ñáñez, Venezuela’s communications minister, accused Washington of “piracy, kidnapping, theft of private property”.

Late Friday, the US attorney’s office for the District of Columbia unsealed a warrant for the Skipper’s seizure after previously identifying the vessel as part of an oil shipping network supporting terrorism-designated Hezbollah and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF).

“As the premiere United States attorney’s office leading efforts to intercept ghost vessels as well as sanctioned products, we remain committed to legally supporting [Trump administration] efforts to make the world a safer place,” US attorney Jeanine Pirro said.

The FBI director, Kash Patel, said: “The seizure of this vessel highlights our successful efforts to impose costs on the governments of Venezuela and Iran.” Patel added that FBI counterintelligence “will continue to enforce US sanctions and cut off our adversaries from financial markets and critical technology”.

The warrant authorized the seizure of “all assets, foreign or domestic … of any individual, entity, or organization engaged in planning or perpetrating any federal crime of terrorism against the United States, citizens or residents of the United States, or their property, and all assets, foreign or domestic, affording any person a source of influence over any such entity or organization.”