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December 15, 2025

U.S. Seized Oil Tanker Near Venezuela as Warrant Was Set to Expire
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A newly unsealed warrant shows the U.S. Coast Guard seized the oil
tanker Skipper near Venezuela, just before the warrant was set to expire
last Wednesday. The warrant was signed by a U.S. magistrate judge in
November and was obtained under federal law that authorizes the U.S.
government to seize all assets that are "engaged in planning or
perpetrating any federal crime of terrorism." This comes as The New York
Times reports that the oil tanker seized by the U.S. was part of the
Venezuelan government's effort to support Cuba. The Skipper was
reportedly carrying nearly 2 million barrels of Venezuelan oil and was
headed to the Cuban port of Matanzas. This is Cuban President Miguel
Díaz-Canel.

President Miguel Díaz-Canel: "Cuba denounces and condemns this return to
gunboat diplomacy, this threatening diplomacy, the scandalous theft one
more in the already long list of looting of Venezuelan state assets. It
is unacceptable interference in the international affairs of a nation
that set the course for the independence of America."

Meanwhile, the U.S. military commander who oversaw the Pentagon's
attacks on boats in the Pacific and the Caribbean, Admiral Alvin Holsey,
retired Friday. The U.S. has provided no evidence backing claims the
boats were used for drug trafficking.


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