The US escalates conflict with Venezuela by attacking an oil tanker and now threatens Colombia

BarcelonaSince September, the United States armed forces have destroyed more than 20 vessels in the Caribbean and the Pacific that were allegedly carrying drugs—though there is no publicly available evidence to support this claim—and have extrajudicially killed more than 80 crew members. These actions occur within the framework of the naval and military deployment that Donald Trump is maintaining against the Nicolás Maduro regimeOn Wednesday night, the US further increased pressure on Venezuela, boarding and seizing an oil tanker off the coast of the South American country. Following the interception, Trump warned Colombia that it would be "the next" target.

The boarded ship, called Skipper, The ship, which was sailing under a false flag, is being prosecuted by the US for violating unilateral sanctions imposed on Venezuela regarding oil trade. According to the Trump administration, it was transporting crude oil "from Venezuela to Iran." "We just seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, a big tanker, a very big tanker, the largest ever seized, in fact," the US president declared on Wednesday.

"It's true that the ship is being pursued and has a seizure order," explains Ana Ayuso, senior researcher for Latin America at CIDOB. "However, this seizure can only be carried out if the tanker is in the waters of a country that is part of the sanctions agreement, but not in international waters," she warns.

Caracas calls the intervention an "act of piracy." "The true reasons for the prolonged aggression against Venezuela have finally been revealed. It has always been about our natural resources, our oil, our energy, the resources that belong exclusively to the Venezuelan people," the Venezuelan Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated after the raid.

Objective: to oust Maduro

In the psychological warfare and escalating US intervention in Venezuela, Wednesday's attack is the first targeting a vessel transporting oil. Until now, all attacks had targeted alleged drug-smuggling boats, even though Washington has yet to present any evidence proving that the attacked vessels were actually carrying drugs. In this regard, Ayuso points out that the attacks occurred in international waters and, therefore, violated international law and even US law. She also notes that "no one doubts anymore" that Washington's actions are part of a "pressure" strategy in Venezuela to force Maduro from power.

In fact, this Thursday, anti-Chavista María Corina Machado, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, confirmed from Oslo that she had received US support to leave Venezuela. When asked about her hypothetical support for US military action against Caracas, Machado stated that Venezuela "has already been invaded"and has accused Maduro of allowing Russian and Iranian agents from Hezbollah and Hamas, as well as terrorist groups and drug cartels, to operate freely. In line with the pressure tactics to force Maduro to relinquish power, Ayuso points out that, although Machado's Nobel Peace Prize "won't change the government, it does highlight the international support for the position that theoretically won the elections." This support is primarily limited to the US and Europe, Ayuso emphasizes, because traditional allies of Venezuela such as Russia, China, and Iran have condemned the attacks and have not withdrawn their support for Maduro. And although the election results have been called into question after the UN concluded that the elections were not transparent, "this does not justify one country intervening in another and installing a new government," Ayuso warns. Interventionism throughout Latin America

In addition to attacking the Maduro regime, Trump is also increasing pressure on Colombia. Shortly after announcing the seizure of the oil tanker, the president said that Colombia would be "the next" target in the supposed fight against drug trafficking. Colombian President Gustavo Petro has been one of the few leaders to speak out forcefully against the extrajudicial killings carried out by the United States in the Pacific and the Caribbean Sea, and his exchanges with Trump have been escalating for months. But Colombia is not the only country Trump has targeted, and Venezuela is not the only one the US president has tried to influence. "There is increasingly intense US intervention in Latin America to install friendly governments and ensure these administrations bend to its interests," Ayuso points out. Examples include the pardon of former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández—who was serving a sentence in the US for drug trafficking—after he supported his party in the elections, or the threat to break the agreement because of the swap financial $20 billion in Argentina if Milei does not remain in power, after his party suffered electoral defeats in key provinces.