Authorities of President Nicolas Maduro denounces US seizure of oil tankers as unlawful acts of piracy.
Printed On 23 Dec 2025
Venezuela’s Nationwide Meeting has handed a legislation enacting harsh penalties for individuals who assist or assist finance blockades and acts of piracy, together with as much as 20 years in jail.
The laws was handed on Tuesday after the USA seized oil tankers linked to Venezuela, acts that the federal government of President Nicolas Maduro has denounced as lawless acts of piracy.
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“This legislation seeks to guard the nationwide economic system and keep away from the deterioration of residing requirements for the inhabitants,” Giuseppe Alessandrello mentioned whereas presenting the legislation earlier than the Nationwide Meeting, which is managed by Maduro’s ruling get together.
The US has carried out a collection of more and more aggressive measures over the previous a number of months, deploying sizeable navy forces to Latin America, seizing oil tankers, killing dozens of individuals in navy strikes on what it says are drug-trafficking boats and threatening land strikes on Venezuela itself.
The legality of a few of these acts, such because the seizures of oil tankers in worldwide waters, is contested. Others, such because the strikes in opposition to alleged drug traffickers, are extensively considered illegal.
The Wall Avenue Journal reported on Tuesday that the US navy had moved particular operations plane and cargo planes with troops into the Caribbean this week.
“We now have a large armada shaped, the largest we’ve ever had and by far the largest we’ve ever had in South America,” Trump informed reporters on Monday.
Maduro has mentioned the US is searching for to topple his authorities and seize management of Venezuela’s massive oil reserves, which members of the Trump administration have falsely claimed rightfully belong to the US. Trump mentioned on Monday that the US would retain the oil seized from the tankers in addition to the tankers themselves.
The US strain marketing campaign has turn into a helpful pretext for the Venezuelan authorities’s efforts to crack down on inner dissent.
Rights groups mentioned the Maduro authorities has turn into extra repressive since a presidential election in July 2024, wherein Maduro claimed victory regardless of widespread doubts in regards to the credibility of the outcomes. The opposition has maintained it was the true winner, and few nations have recognised Maduro’s victory.
