Turmoil in Venezuela

[Ravenlocke]

DD Geopolitics

🇻🇪🇺🇸 Venezuela issues a blistering statement after the U.S. military seized an oil tanker near its waters, denouncing the operation as outright theft and “international piracy.”

Caracas says Washington’s motives are not migration, drugs, democracy, or human rights, but Venezuela’s natural resources, which the U.S. has openly admitted wanting to control.

Key points from the government’s communiqué:

➡️ The tanker’s seizure is described as a criminal act, part of a deliberate U.S. strategy to strip Venezuela of its energy resources, the same pattern seen in the CITGO takeover.

➡️ The government says these events expose the true reasons behind years of U.S. pressure: oil, minerals, and energy, not humanitarian concerns.

➡️ Caracas accuses the U.S. of using the tanker operation to distract from the “failed political show” in Oslo, referring to the Nobel Peace Prize controversy surrounding María Corina Machado, which Venezuela describes as another foreign-backed attempt at regime change.

➡️ Venezuela calls on its citizens to remain united in defense of the nation, and urges the international community to condemn what it describes as a vandalic, illegal, and unprecedented act of aggression.

➡️ Caracas says it will take the case to international legal bodies, asserting its right to defend national sovereignty and prevent foreign powers from seizing Venezuelan assets.

This marks one of the strongest official rebukes from Venezuela since the crisis began — and signals a new escalation between Washington and Caracas.

https://x.com/DD_Geopolitics/status/1998906344360030382

[Ravenlocke]

Al Mayadeen English

The seized tanker, allegedly bound for #Cuba, highlights tightening #US sanctions and their ripple effect on regional fuel trade and diplomatic tensions.

https://x.com/MayadeenEnglish/status...68140265246724

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/...calates-tensio

US seizes oil tanker off Venezuela as Trump escalates tensions
The United States has seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, US President Donald Trump said Wednesday, a move that jolted global oil markets and is likely to heighten already fraught relations between Washington and Caracas.

“We’ve just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela, large tanker, very large, largest one ever, actually, and other things are happening,” Trump said.

A person familiar with the matter, who was granted anonymity to discuss the sensitive seizure, told Politico that the vessel had been bound for Cuba.

The Cuban Embassy in Washington did not respond immediately to requests for comment, as per the report.

Piracy, military buildup at sea

The operation comes as Trump has ordered a significant military build-up in the region, deploying an aircraft carrier, fighter jets, and tens of thousands of troops. Analysts say the tanker seizure could mark a shift toward more aggressive efforts to target Venezuela’s oil sector, the country’s main source of revenue.

Three US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that the operation was conducted by the US Coast Guard. They did not identify the vessel, its flag, or the exact location of the interdiction.

Vanguard, a British maritime risk consultancy, said it believed the tanker Skipper was the vessel seized early Wednesday. Washington previously sanctioned the ship, then known as the Adisa, for allegedly participating in Iranian oil trading.

Oil futures rose on news of the seizure. Brent crude finished up 27 cents, or 0.4%, at $62.21 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate rose 21 cents to $58.46.

The Venezuelan government has not commented.

Oil markets and supply tensions

Venezuela exported more than 900,000 barrels per day last month, its third-highest monthly average this year, after state-run PDVSA boosted imports of naphtha to dilute extra-heavy crude. Despite mounting pressure on President Nicolas Maduro, Washington had previously refrained from directly disrupting Venezuela’s oil flows.

Rory Johnston, an analyst at Commodity Context, said the seizure adds to market unease. “This is just yet another geopolitical/sanctions headwind hammering spot supply availability,” he said. “Seizing this tanker further inflames those prompt supply concerns but also doesn’t immediately change the situation fundamentally because these barrels were already going to be floating around for a while.”

Escalating pressure on Maduro

Maduro has long argued that the US military build-up aims to topple him and seize control of Venezuela’s vast oil reserves. Since early September, the Trump administration has carried out more than 20 strikes on suspected drug-smuggling vessels across the Caribbean and Pacific, killing more than 80 people.

Experts have raised legal concerns over the campaign, noting that US authorities have provided little evidence that the targeted boats were carrying narcotics or that lethal force was necessary instead of interdiction and questioning.

Those concerns intensified this month after reports that the commander overseeing the operation ordered a second strike that killed two survivors.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll published Wednesday found broad US public opposition to the deadly maritime strikes, including among roughly one-fifth of Republicans.

Trump has repeatedly floated the prospect of US military meddling in Venezuela. In a sweeping strategy document released last week, he said the administration’s foreign-policy priority is to “reassert its dominance in the Western Hemisphere.”

What this means for Cuba

Cuba’s long-running struggle under the US embargo has pushed its economy into one of its most challenging periods in decades, with ordinary families bearing the heaviest burden. The restrictions, tightened further in recent years, have sharply limited access to fuel, medical supplies, spare parts, and basic goods, creating a cycle of shortages that affects nearly every aspect of daily life.

Public transportation routinely grinds to a halt, hospitals face chronic scarcities, and households are forced to navigate rising prices and dwindling resources.

For many Cubans, the embargo is not an abstract geopolitical tool but a visible, persistent source of hardship embedded in the rhythm of everyday survival.

Those pressures intensified after the recent seizure of a Venezuelan oil vessel reportedly bound for Cuba, a development that deepened an already severe energy crisis.

The country relies heavily on Venezuelan shipments to stabilize its fuel supply, and the interception of the cargo immediately triggered longer blackouts, constrained industrial activity, and disrupted food distribution networks.

Communities already struggling to secure basic necessities now face worsening electricity shortages and soaring transportation costs. This latest act highlights how US meddling, including decades of sanctions and aggressive maritime actions, directly harms Cuban civilians, deepening suffering and undermining the resilience of the island’s economy.

[ThePythonicCow]

Posted by Rizotto (here)
Perspective needed for understanding what's really going on: why the repeated diversion about the 'globalists' being the problem, when in fact it is the zionists that have thoroughly infiltrated the USA political arena to the core, as well as media, the CIA and other law enforcement agencies.

... ...

MARÍA CORINA MACHADO: GILDED PROXY FOR IMPERIALISM AND ZIONISM
https://katehon.com/en/article/maria...sm-and-zionism

It is very concerning that there still are too many USA citizens who support Trump's takeover agenda run by zionists/globalists.

When I read the first part of your response, correcting my use of the word "globalists" and noting that my problem was using the word "globalists" instead of "zionists", then I started thinking of ways I could explain to you that the evil bastards go by many names, including "globalist" and "Zionist."

But then I got lucky. You then documented this overlap of meaning, blaming the "zionists/globalists" for something. You claimed (if I read your words correctly?) Trump's agenda to be the exact opposite of what I might consider it to be, but be that as it may ... clearly we agree that the meanings of "zionist" and "globalist" are similar or significantly overlapping.

Therefore it seems we agree that whether I used the word "globalist" or "zionist" is not the issue here.

Thanks for making my case for me.

[ThePythonicCow]

Posted by ThePythonicCow (here)
Therefore it seems we agree that whether I used the word "globalist" or "zionist" is not the issue here.

Thanks for making my case for me.

Enough of this bickering ... I'm wasting the time of the readers of this Venezuela thread.

Alex Krainer does a far better job of describing the contest between the globalists who would treat humanity as cattle to be herded, and nationalists favoring a world of multiple nations of varying resources, cultures, and economies.

The U.S. taking on Venezuela is the U.S. taking on a key output of the globalists, that has been working to destroy the U.S. as a nation in various ways, including drugs, election fraud, energy and money laundering.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=jgx6S7WadEo

Krainer does a fine job of describing the "big picture", which is the framework within which I understand the Venezuelan operation.

[Rizotto]

The USA-Israel axis of imperialistic terrorism is often accusing other countries (e.g. Venezuela) of what they themselves practice.
______________________________________________________________

"Honduran Deputy Foreign Minister Gerardo Torres Zelaya spoke with The Grayzone’s Wyatt Reed to explain what really happened in November’s widely-disputed election. They discuss how the cartel-linked opposition appears to have used their control of the electoral system to rig the vote, the hundreds of death threats reportedly made by MS-13 members supporting the Trump-backed candidate, and why his LIBRE Party is now calling for the questionable results to be annulled."

"It's a fraud": Trump and MS-13 helped rig Honduran vote, top official says

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=ifID_1aP1JM

[Vicus]

Russia Demands Investigation After U.S. Seizes Oil Tanker Near Venezuela



The Americans “boarded the deck of the tanker, accusing it of transporting crude whose sale is prohibited,” Lavrov said, but he noted that U.S. oil company Chevron “operates in Venezuela and buys Venezuelan oil.”

“And what quantities of supposedly illegal hydrocarbons were on that tanker? That is something that must be clarified,” the Russian diplomat added.

“I hope that, out of respect for other members of the international community, the United States — even if it believes it has the right to carry out this type of action — explains on the basis of what facts it is taking these measures,” Lavrov said.

The Russian diplomat said his country supports a collective debate on how to combat drug trafficking and how to ensure maritime security. In this way, he said, it will be avoided that “all members of the international community simply observe the accomplished results of unilateral actions.”

On Wednesday, amid escalating U.S. aggression against the Bolivarian Revolution, Trump announced that the United States had seized an oil tanker near the Venezuelan coast and that Washington intends to take possession of the oil the vessel was carrying.

“The masks are falling,” Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez said, referring to the illegal appropriation of oil, which she called the real objective of the Trump administration behind its alleged “War on Drugs” in the Caribbean.

The Venezuelan government described the seizure of the tanker as a “brazen theft and an act of international piracy,” recalling that this is not the first time Trump has expressed such intentions.

During the 2024 presidential race, the Republican leader openly said that his goal has always been to take Venezuela’s oil without paying any compensation in return.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/russi...ear-venezuela/

[Vicus]

Machado Incites Destabilization Against the Venezuelan State



Examining the Hardline Machado’s Role in the Violent ‘Guarimbas’ and the Geopolitical Agenda for Regime Change.

The term “guarimba” in Venezuela is not synonymous with peaceful protest. It is a controversial word that defines a specific, confrontational tactic used by radical sectors of the country’s right-wing opposition.


Machado Embodies the Weaponization of the Nobel Peace Prize

Derived from a word meaning a safe space, the political “guarimba” became its deadly opposite: a strategy of urban paralysis and chaos.

They were not spontaneous uprisings but calculated operations, first seen in a major wave in 2004 and later intensified in 2014 under the banner of “La Salida” (The Exit), always aimed at the extra-constitutional ouster of a democratically elected government.

At the center of this strategy stands María Corina Machado, a figure tied to the wealthiest sectors of the Venezuelan elite.

This in-depth analysis explains how the guarimbas became a political weapon, tracing their violent history, the direct role of Machado in inciting military intervention, and civil conflict.

And how her connection to these destabilization efforts, and foreign sanctions led to her political disqualification, intending to distinguish genuine democratic opposition from the aggressive, anti-popular agenda of the hardline right.

continue: https://www.telesurenglish.net/macha...ezuelan-state/

[bojancan]

Who is here dictator???? Disgusting... this Trump gone rogue... I’m lost for words....
Trump is most hypocritical... lying... treacherous... this canning governments that have existed ever... the biggest terrorist of all they are... most American people are duped... believing in this man... and are convinced that their country is the exceptional with all what they are doing now...

Moment US troops storm tanker off Venezuelan coast as Trump ramps up pressure on dictator Maduro

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=4425cxJruag

This is the stunning moment US troops storm a tanker off the Venezuelan coast and seize it.

Armed commandos bundled out of a chopper and scattered around the ship to secure the impressive operation.

They disperse in formation - guns aloft - darting up staircases and sweeping through cabins.

The seizure marks a major escalation in tensions between the nations
And is the strongest hint yet that America’s sights are set further than drug smugglers.

[Vicus]

NAPOLITANO: 'Kill them all'

Not rescuing these survivors was criminal. But the entire killing process is criminal.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=dNDnFsia3i8

continue:

https://trendsinthenews.substack.com...-kill-them-all

[bojancan]

I am understanding this situation Trump/Venezuela like that... "convicted felon stealing oil "Wagging the Dog" to distract away from the Epstein documents"....

Dec, 11
Breaking Points
1.68M subscribers
Jon Stewart RIPS Trump On Venezuela 'Iraq War 2.0'

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=5aSwifhXSb0

Ryan and Emily discuss Jon Stewart ripping Trump over war with Venezuela.

[Ravenlocke]

-- GEROMAN -- time will tell - 👀 --

Tanker attacks & Pirates of the Caribbean -
The Epmire is getting desperate.

https://x.com/GeromanAT/status/1999517573830894079

[Ravenlocke]

𝐀𝐫𝐧𝐮𝐥𝐟𝐨 𝐁𝐮𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐚𝐬

Dec 10
Replying to
@MONYRODRIGUEZOF
Translated from Spanish
The U.S. is in absolute bankruptcy; last week it stole Venezuela's oil company Citgo, valued at 35 billion dollars (according to experts in the oil sector), today it stole a giant ship with all the oil on the high seas.
Despair is spreading, and only two countries can fix its economic problem.

https://x.com/ArnulfoBuelvas/status/1998952945166004546

tim anderson

Dec 8
Diosdado Cabello: leaders of Venezuela's extremist opposition, headed by Leopoldo López, "are thieves, they are crooks," they received a multimillion dollar commission for the illegal sale/theft of #CITGO, a PDVSA subsidiary in the USA.
https://venezuela-news.com/son-unos-...enta-de-citgo/

https://x.com/timand2037/status/1998140872895184918

Max Blumenthal

Dec 10
The US regime has carried out piracy and theft against designated enemies under Democratic and Republican admins

Biden’s goons stole a plane belonging to Venezuela

Before that, Trump stole Citgo from Venezuela

Washington normalizes these crimes through unilateral sanctions

https://x.com/MaxBlumenthal/status/1998950958869655556

Al Mayadeen Español

Dec 7
Translated from Spanish
#HISTORIETA 🇻🇪 IMPERIAL PLUNDER AGAINST VENEZUELA

⭕️ The forced auction of Citgo is not an isolated incident: it is a planned imperial plunder against Venezuela.

⭕️ The Venezuelan State and PDVSA were illegitimately prevented from exercising their defense, violating international law and paving the way for an unprecedented confiscation against one of the country's most important energy assets abroad.

✊ Today more than ever, sovereignty is not negotiable.
Citgo belongs to Venezuela!

#CitgoEsDeVenezuela #ManosFueraDeCitgo #VenezuelaSoberana #PDVSA #NoAlDespojo #Venezuela #EEUU

https://x.com/almayadeen_es/status/1997882205649965245

[Ravenlocke]

Antiwar.com

US Sanctions Six Companies Accused of Transporting Venezuelan Oil as It Prepares More Seizures
Venezuela slammed the US seizure of an oil tanker off its coast as 'blatant theft' and 'piracy'
#Venezuela #Oil

https://x.com/Antiwarcom/status/1999283714103111820

https://news.antiwar.com/2025/12/11/...more-seizures/

US Sanctions Six Companies Accused of Transporting Venezuelan Oil as It Prepares More Seizures

The US Treasury Department on Thursday announced sanctions targeting six companies it accused of transporting Venezuelan oil, as Reuters reported that the Trump administration is gearing up to seize more oil tankers.

The US seizure of a tanker off the coast of Venezuela that was bound for Cuba on Wednesday marked a significant escalation of the US campaign against the country and was strongly denounced by Caracas.

The Venezuelan Foreign Ministry said the US military operation was “blatant theft and an act of international piracy, publicly announced by the President of the US, who confessed to the assault on an oil tanker in the Caribbean Sea.”

When announcing its sanctions on Thursday, which also targeted three nephews of Maduro’s wife, Cilia Flores, the Treasury Department also “identified” six tankers it said were moving Venezuelan oil, signaling the vessels may be targeted for seizure.

US officials told Reuters that the US plans to target more tankers in the coming weeks, and shipping sources told the outlet that many ship owners and operators involved in moving Venezuelan oil are reconsidering whether to depart Venezuela as planned in the coming days.

President Trump has said that the US will likely “keep” the Venezuelan oil that it seized. During the first Trump administration, the US stole shipments of Iranian gas that were bound for Venezuela by coercing shipping companies through threats of sanctions to bring the cargo to the US, where it was sold off.

The seizure of Venezuelan oil by military force marks an escalation of the US enforcement of sanctions on both Venezuela and Cuba, which have had a devastating impact on civilians in the two countries and have done nothing to change the governments in either country.

The US has continued its military buildup in the Caribbean and has made frequent military flights near the coast of Venezuela. A day before the tanker was seized, two US Navy F/A-18 fighter jets flew deep inside the Gulf of Venezuela.

[Ravenlocke]

🅰pocalypsis 🅰pocalypseos 🇷🇺 🇨🇳 🅉

Dec 10
Alastair Crooke: A New War of Systems and Visions of the World

Alastair Crooke argues that China’s November offer to Venezuela—followed by a zero-tariff deal at the Shanghai Expo and the entry of firms like CCRC to develop “something like 500 fields”—signals a decisive correction to the old imperial view. This is no longer simply “pumping and taking Venezuelan oil,” he says, but a deeper, infrastructural embedment. It marks a shift from the era when power rested on a blunt premise: “We have the bigger army, and you don’t, you have to do what we say.”

The contemporary threat, Crooke suggests, is “not necessarily military in the old conventional sense.” Partly, this is because “military tactics have been upended with missiles and drones and things,” for which the West is unprepared. But more profoundly, the challenge is one of structure: the “penetration of a different order”—of credit, loans, ports, railways, and corridors. This constitutes “an alternative economic structure to that of Bretton Woods and the dollar hegemony,” built not on coercion but on enduring economic presence.

The warships idling off Venezuela’s coast, in his reading, articulate a new doctrine: “I’m not going to let it happen… not on our territory, not in our patch, not in the Western Hemisphere.” By blocking Iranian, Chinese, and Russian vessels, Washington aims to arrest what it sees as the “insidious” spread of a rival model.

This, for Crooke, is now “a new war of the systems.” The contest has moved beyond forward bases and regime change; it is about preventing an alternative architecture—of economics, payments, and credit—from taking root and radiating across Latin America and the global South.

China’s purpose, he states, is explicit. It is “saying, look—there is an alternative,” where nations are “not going to be threatened with sanctions,” punished by the IMF, or trapped in financial cycles that let Wall Street “dive in and force you to privatize your assets.” This is “a very powerful message,” a declaration that “we’re ready now to challenge your model, your vision of the future.”

The outcome in Venezuela remains uncertain—it “may turn into a kinetic war.” Yet the deeper transformation is already clear: we have entered a different era, defined not by coups and ultimatums, but by a more fundamental confrontation “between different visions of the world.”

https://x.com/apocalypseos/status/1999025429512909161

[Ravenlocke]

RT

⚡️ Iran SEIZES tanker carrying 6 MILLION LITRES of ‘smuggled fuel’ — IRIB footage

DAY after US captures ship used to ‘transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran’

https://x.com/RT_com/status/1999575926963663285

Sputnik

🚨🇮🇷 Iran seizes foreign tanker carrying smuggled fuel in Sea of Oman

Iranian forces have seized a foreign-flagged oil tanker carrying 6 million liters of smuggled diesel in the Gulf of Oman, IRIB reported.

State media released no vessel name or nationality.

https://x.com/SputnikInt/status/1999612916123996619

[Ba-ba-Ra]

Something to consider: Was there something else on the captured tanker besides oil?

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=fR9Q4J1KAms

[rgray222]

Maduro urged supporters to be united and be “ready to smash the teeth of the North American empire if necessary,” The Guardian reported. Maduro carried a sword that belonged to 19th-century Venezuelan politician and South American hero Simón Bolívar as he spoke.

Nobel Peace Prize winner and Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado has praised Trump’s actions toward her country as “decisive.” She sidestepped answering if she supports a U.S. military intervention to remove Maduro, but said she will one day return to Venezuela, whether Maduro’s regime is toppled or if he is still in power.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=Q9NxLrsbHgQ

[AutumnW]

I shouldn't criticize

[AutumnW]

Posted by rgray222 (here)
Maduro urged supporters to be united and be “ready to smash the teeth of the North American empire if necessary,” The Guardian reported. Maduro carried a sword that belonged to 19th-century Venezuelan politician and South American hero Simón Bolívar as he spoke.

Nobel Peace Prize winner and Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado has praised Trump’s actions toward her country as “decisive.” She sidestepped answering if she supports a U.S. military intervention to remove Maduro, but said she will one day return to Venezuela, whether Maduro’s regime is toppled or if he is still in power.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=Q9NxLrsbHgQ

Machado should describe how Venezuela was brought to its knees by the US through sanctions and in its weakened state kicked in the crotch by the 1000 lb bully to the North. This clip is 6 years old and Martin describes the process.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJMuqSuuXdA

[rgray222]

Posted by AutumnW (here)
It's amazing how you and some others here use every excuse in the book and then some to uphold this gang of thieves, pirates, monsters as somehow having a valid claim to do what they did? Christ in a Sidecar!

My comment was purely informational, intended neither to condemn nor condone any party. Had I intended to take a side on this small piece of the story, there would have been no ambiguity in my comment.