Pressure on Maduro grows after US seizes ‘dark fleet’ tanker off coast of Venezuela

Diplomatic pressure on Nicolás Maduro has grown after the US interdicted a “dark fleet” tanker off the coast of Venezuela in a move that has been interpreted as an escalation of the Trump administration’s pressure on the South American dictator.

The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, called Maduro on Thursday following the rare seizure to “reaffirm” Russia’s support for the current Venezuelan government, despite calls from the Trump administration, other countries in the region and Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado for him to step down.

A Kremlin readout of the call said Putin called Maduro to express “solidarity” with the Venezuelan people and to continue to build economic and energy cooperation, which includes offshore oil ventures in the Caribbean Sea.

Senior Democratic lawmakers and at least one Republican have condemned the seizure of the oil tanker, with one saying Trump was “sleepwalking us into a war with Venezuela”.

Maduro has reacted defiantly to US pressure and his government called the oil tanker seizure “blatant theft” and “an act of international piracy”, adding it would “defend its sovereignty, natural resources and national dignity with absolute determination”.

But neighbouring countries have said Maduro’s exit could help pave a way to the end of the crisis. In a radio interview on Thursday, Colombia’s foreign affairs minister, Rosa Villavicencio, indicated her government would be willing to offer Maduro a place to live or “protection” if needed.

“Colombia would have no reason to say no,” Villavicencio said, although she believed he would be more likely to go somewhere further away. It was the first time a senior Colombian official had said Maduro could receive asylum in the country, although Villavicencio had previously discussed the potential for a transitional government.

That followed a public statement by Colombia’s leftwing president, Gustavo Petro, on Wednesday: “It is time for a general amnesty and a transitional government with the inclusion of all and everyone,” Petro said, adding that he opposed an “invasion by foreigners” of Venezuela, pushing back against direct action by the US.

A top adviser to Brazil’s leftwing president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, earlier this week told the Guardian that “asylum is a Latin American institution [for] people of both right and left.” But the adviser, Celso Amorim, added that he did not want to speculate, “so as not to appear to be encouraging” the idea.

Speaking in Oslo on Thursday after being awarded the Nobel peace prize, Machado repeated her call for Maduro to step down and predicted he would soon have no choice but to leave Venezuela. “He’s going out,” she insisted, although so far the autocrat has shown no sign of being willing to relinquish power after nearly 13 years as president.

At a rally on Wednesday, Maduro urged his supporters to be ready to “to smash the teeth of the North American empire if necessary”. In an apparent bid to project nonchalance, he also danced to the sound of the Bobby McFerrin song Don’t Worry Be Happy.

Ricardo Hausmann, a former Venezuelan minister and opposition supporter, said he believed dramatically increasingly US military pressure on Maduro was the only way to force him out.

“If you know [you’re going to] confront some some kinetic threats by a credible military force, then suddenly going into exile sounds that much more attractive,” Hausmann said. “That’s why my preference would be to clearly use the military threat to convince Maduro to go.”

“If staying in power means that you you may get missiles thrown at you, like [Iranian general Qasem] Soleimani, then you might want to consider seriously whether you want to stay in power,” Hausmann added.

Maduro was democratically elected in 2013, inheriting the Bolivarian revolution from his mentor, Hugo Chávez, but has led the country in an increasingly authoritarian direction.

The former union leader is widely believed to have stolen last year’s presidential election, with an independent analysis of election data gathered by the opposition suggesting Maduro suffered a landslide defeat to Machado’s ally, the retired diplomat Edmundo González. Even longstanding allies of the Chavista movement, such the leftist presidents of Brazil and Colombia, have refused to recognise Maduro’s claim to have beaten González, who ran in Machado’s place after she was banned from taking part.

While the US seizure of the Guyana-flagged Skipper was quickly seen as an escalation of pressure on Venezuela, it also coincided with a number of attacks on other “dark fleet” ships around the world that carry oil between sanctioned countries in violation of global maritime regulations.

Maritime data collected by Windward, a maritime AI data company, and shared with the Guardian indicated that the ship had regularly “spoofed” its location and made multiple trips to Venezuela and Iran, which is also under US sanctions, and had transported oil to China.

“The US seizure of Skipper off the coast of Venezuela sends a powerful message that dark fleet tankers are now a legitimate military target,” the company wrote in an analysis.

There are currently 30 sanctioned tankers operating in Venezuelan waters, the company said, including seven that are falsely flagged and operating off the coastline.

“Despite flouting global maritime regulations that underpin global trade, hundreds of these tankers have operated around the world unchallenged – until now,” it said.

The Trump administration framed Wednesday’s seizure as a law enforcement action, noting that the US Coast Guard led the operation and directing the US attorney general, Pam Bondi, to announce the seizure.

“For multiple years, the oil tanker has been sanctioned by the United States due to its involvement in an illicit oil shipping network supporting foreign terrorist organisations,” she said. “This seizure, completed off the coast of Venezuela, was conducted safely and securely – and our investigation alongside the Department of Homeland Security to prevent the transport of sanctioned oil continues.”