Explore Business Standard
Venezuela
US military forces boarded and took control of a seventh oil tanker connected with Venezuela on Tuesday as the Trump administration continues its efforts to take control of the South American country's oil. US Southern Command said in a social media post that US forces apprehended the Motor Vessel Sagitta without incident and that the tanker was operating in defiance of President Donald Trump's "established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean. The military command did not say whether the US Coast Guard took control of the tanker as has been the case in prior seizures. The Pentagon did not immediately respond to questions for more details. The Sagitta is a Liberian-flagged tanker and its registration says it is owned and managed by a company in Hong Kong. The ship last transmitted its location more than two months ago when exiting the Baltic Sea in northern Europe. The tanker was sanctioned by the US Treasury Department under an executive order related to Russia's ...
The Federal Aviation Administration has urged US aircraft operators to exercise caution when flying over the eastern Pacific Ocean near Mexico, Central America and parts of South America, citing military activities and satellite navigation interference. The warning was issued in a series of Notices to Airmen (NOTAMs) issued by the FAA on Friday. They say, Potential risks exist for aircraft at all altitudes, including during overflight and the arrival and departure phases of flight. Such notices are issued routinely in any region where there are hostilities nearby. The notices come after nearly four months of US military strikes against boats in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific that the US alleged were trafficking drugs. After 35 known strikes that killed at least 115 people, according to the Trump administration, the US conducted a large-scale strike against Venezuela. President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were seized and transported to New York, where they
A flight with 231 Venezuelan migrants deported from the US city of Phoenix arrived Friday to their home country, nearly two weeks after the United States captured former President Nicols Maduro and took him to New York to face drug trafficking charges. The Eastern Airlines plane arrived at an airport outside the capital, Caracas, marking the resumption of flights after Washington according to Venezuelan officials unilaterally suspended direct deportation air transfers in mid-December. The previous direct flight from the US was on December 10. Return flights for deported migrants had been regularised since late March as part of the transfers agreed upon by both governments. The transfers were successively affected amid heightened tensions since US military forces began to execute a series of deadly attacks against boats suspected of smuggling drugs in international waters of the Caribbean and Pacific Ocean, including several vessels that they claim departed from Venezuela. Maduro
US forces in the Caribbean Sea have seized another sanctioned oil tanker that the Trump administration says has ties to Venezuela, part of a broader US effort to take control of the South American country's oil. The US Coast Guard boarded the tanker, named Veronica, early Thursday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote on social media. The ship had previously passed through Venezuelan waters and was operating in defiance of President Donald Trump's "established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean, she said. US Southern Command said Marines and sailors launched from the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford to take part in the operation alongside a Coast Guard tactical team, which Noem said conducted the boarding as in previous raids. The military said the ship was seized without incident. Several US government social media accounts posted brief videos that appeared to show various parts of the ship's capture. Black-and-white footage showed at least four helicopte
Venezuela's acting President Delcy Rodrguez used her first state of the union message on Thursday to advocate for opening the crucial state-run oil industry to more foreign investment following the Trump administration's pledge to seize control of Venezuelan crude sales. For the first time, Rodrguez laid out a vision for Venezuela's new political reality one that challenges her government's most deeply rooted beliefs less than two weeks after the United States captured and toppled former President Nicols Maduro. Under pressure from the US to cooperate with its plans for reshaping Venezuela's sanctioned oil industry, she declared that a new policy is being formed in Venezuela and urged the nation's diplomats to tell foreign investors about it. The Trump administration has said it plans to control future oil revenue to ensure it benefits the Venezuelan people. Rodrguez on Thursday painted a picture of money from the oil sales flowing into the national budget to bolster crisis-stricke
President Donald Trump is set to meet Thursday at the White House with Venezuelan opposition leader Mara Corina Machado, whose political party is widely considered to have won 2024 elections rejected by then-President Nicols Maduro before the United States captured him in an audacious military raid this month. Less than two weeks after U.S. forces seized Maduro and his wife at a heavily guarded compound in Caracas and brought them to New York to stand trial on drug trafficking charges, Trump will host the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Machado, having already dismissed her credibility to run Venezuela and raised doubts about his stated commitment to backing democratic rule in the country. She's a very nice woman, Trump told Reuters in an interview about Machado. I've seen her on television. I think we're just going to talk basics. The meeting comes as Trump and his top advisers have signaled their willingness to work with acting President Delcy Rodrguez, who was Maduro's vice president