The United States has extended sanctions against Venezuela, the restrictions are imposed on three nephews of President Nicolas Maduro’s wife and six shipping companies supplying Venezuelan oil.
The restrictions also apply to six tankers. The U.S. Treasury Department said the vessels were involved in “deceptive and dangerous shipping practices and continue to provide financial resources to fuel Maduro’s corrupt narco-terrorist regime.”
As the US financial agency writes, two nephews of Celia Flores – Efraim Antonio Campo Flores and Francisco Flores de Freitas – are drug traffickers. It is noted that they are referred to as “drug tribesmen.” In November 2015, they were arrested in Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince as they completed an operation to transport hundreds of kilograms of cocaine to the US. They were convicted on drug trafficking charges but released in a prisoner exchange with Venezuela in 2022. The Treasury Department says they continued their drug trafficking activities.
Also on the sanctions list was Panamanian businessman Ramon Carretero Napolitano, who allegedly had “lucrative contracts with the Maduro regime and various business dealings with his family.”
On 11 December, US President Donald Trump also reiterated his threat to soon launch strikes against likely drug shipments travelling overland from Venezuela to the US.
Earlier, the US seized the oil tanker Skipper off the coast of Venezuela. US Justice Secretary Pam Bondi said the tanker was being used “to transport Venezuelan and Iranian oil, which is the subject of sanctions.” Skipper has been placed on the US sanctions list. According to the White House, the oil the tanker was carrying will be seized.
Maduro responded by saying that the US had “opened an era of criminal maritime piracy in the Caribbean”. He added that “Venezuela guarantees the safety of all vessels to guarantee the free trade of its oil around the world.”