Illustrative image. (U.S. Navy photo by Cmdr. Michael W. Meredith/Released)
Venezuela has accused the United States of illegally boarding one of its fishing vessels in the country’s special economic zone.
Tensions between the two countries have been mounting since last month when the administration of President Donald Trump doubled the reward for the arrest of Venezuelan President Maduro to $50 million on drug trafficking charges then deployed a large naval force with more than 4,000 troops close to the country’s shores on a so-called “counter narco-terror operation”.
In a statement released on September 13, Venezuela’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said a vessel with nine “humble” and “harmless” fishermen was intercepted by the USS Jason Dunham, an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer, a day earlier.
“The warship deployed 18 armed agents who boarded and occupied the small, harmless boat for eight hours,” the statement said, calling the incident a “direct provocation through the illegal use of excessive military means”.
A U.S. official told ABC News later that Coast Guard personnel stationed aboard USS Jason Dunham searched the fishing vessel for drugs following a tip.
The official admitted that the force did not locate any contraband aboard the vessel. However, they disputed claims from Venezuela that the search took eight hours and they contended the boat was in international waters.
Earlier this month, a U.S. strike hit a speedboat in the Caribbean that Trump said belonged to Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang designated as a terrorist organization. The U.S. The president linked the gang to Maduro and said that 11 people were killed in the strike, which Caracas labelled an “extrajudicial killing” of civilians.
Two Venezuelan fighter jets later flew close to a U.S. warship, the USS Jason Dunham, in an apparent response to the deadly strike.
Venezuela’s Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello has already revealed that none of the people killed in the strike were members of Tren de Aragua, which is designated as a terrorist group by the U.S.
The fishing vessel incident now raises more doubts about the strike. If the Coast Guard boarded the vessel based on a tip that turned out to be false, then it is very likely that the intelligence that previously led to the strike on the speedboat was also faulty.
The U.S. is clearly eyeing a regime change in Venezuela, which has the world’s largest oil reserve. Several recent reports from U.S. media revealed that officials within the Trump administration believe that the U.S. is either using the counter narco-terror operation to encourage a coup in Caracas, or outright wants to impose one.
Venezuela is, of course, preparing for the worst. Just last week, Maduro ordered the activation of 284 “fronts of battle” across the country with a force made up from the military, police and civilian volunteers. He said that the mobilization, codenamed “Plan Independencia 200,” would keep Venezuela’s coastline free of “imperialists, invaders and violent groups.”
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the bastards, the pigs, the scum, the terrorists, the imperialists, the thieves and the robbers, the americans want to get their hands on and take venezuela’s oil for free. for this, they will not give up on crimes and genocide, no matter how many venezuelans die, the rest will be slaves to the americans.
they don’t want to “take venezuela’s oil for free”. they want to control venezuela’s oil because it is a strategic asset. the us is quite content to have venezuelans sit on it and pump it out under conditions determined by the americans. they would like it to operate like canada’s sludge pits.
well said. and it’s connected to their most recent attempts to sanction russia through europe. that is, to get them to stop buying russian oil.
that makes it ok then? who the hell are they to dictate to other countries about their sovereign assets?
i wouldn’t bet on that.chevron has been pumping oil, tramp just stopped it. he intends regime change, ala syria, libya and iraq. none of these sells their own oil. the u.s. controls iraqs yet and syria as well. he wants it all. does regime change count as ‘them pumping it’? i doubt they would see it that way. how much does the ‘new’ gov in syria get? u.s. controls iraqi accounts, they can cancel them anytime.
the dogs the pigs the scum the queer.
u will check your six asap…
bulshit,
u.s has syria oil
u.s do not need venezuela oil
american terrorists are killing and harassing venezuelans inside of venezuela’s territorial waters and in international waters, both of these actions are illegal! venezuela has the right to defend itself, now i just hope they have/get the means to do it!
right, yet another isolated country, sanctioned to beat the band and subject to internal cia machinations all day every day, is going to militarily keep the us at bay.
forget legal and illegal, there has been no such thing as international law since nato attacked the former yugoslavia in the 90s.
i’d say international law has been little more than a fig leaf since the cia started it’s dirty tricks in the 1950’s if not when scum like dulles and angleton started working with nazis and zionists at the end of ww ii.
putin should offer trump a russian world for american world doctrine exchange no russian involvement in the american world no american involvement in the russian world. if he does not agree he should immediatelly start to arm venezuela and preper them for guerilla warfare. perhaps china could do something but no they are waiting until they are left alone to fend of the entire us controlled world at some point in the distant future.
the secret arming of venezuela will not be discussed openly. but it it will happen.
why secret? make it open to send a message.
the only thing putin should offer epstein’s obese orange friend is a boot up the ass
this is an offer that cannot be acepted but still works for the public as a legitimate diplomatic step.
these us ziopigs are definitely there because maduro has a very good relationship with iran and does business with them.
expected from us feminized americunt cowards–we will never try this w a superior russian or chinese vessel
nita been — like the boat they blew up, it was a small fishing boat, not a venezuelan naval vessel.
every country that claims to be part of the multi polar world should send a naval vessel to shadow the u.s. ships and keep them from approaching venezuelan boats.
isn’t it time to stand up to the world bully?
amerikunts = thieving scum. end of story. almost as bad as the jooz who own them.
this the u.s.a. warmonger monsters! gulf of tonkin awaiting! i hope they have guts to invade venezuela… venezuela has more than 1 million really nationalist militia (yankees will fly like in the camp taji!)
are they stronger then irak or yugoslavia was? and dont remember argentina is on the us side and brazil is not friendly to venezuela either.
trying to unmine venezuela authority in its own waters. china and keep sending hypersonic and advisors to venezuela along with a shield of s-400s and s-350s.
i heard china sending things to syria as well which never happened. i dont believe china will ever send anything anywhere.
“in a statement released on september 13, venezuela’s ministry of foreign affairs said a vessel with nine “humble” and “harmless” fishermen was intercepted by the”
let the muricans eat humble pie, or in their case, eat pie from gringo pig troughs…
😂
we prefer eat taco w taliban jizz salsa
the us likes using terms to side track what bad things they do. like when they say it was not 8-hours which means it was 7 hours and 55 minutes but no eight!
more international laws and treaties broken by the rules based banker pirate order. what is next ?
a russia boat should already have arrived with like 50 hypersonics to make the price too high.
might make right. the jews that run america create money out of thin air and can buy a military that is able to impose their will.
everyone that accepts and spends us dollars enables this system of jewish control.
yankee gunboat diplomacy is back. but with
ship killing missiles…that tactic is obsolete.
the us lied!
i’m shocked.
they’d find a hell of a lot more drugs in the white house and capitol than on any venezuelan fishing boat.
hope to see trump and biden alongside netanyahu, starmer, sisi, etc in nuremberg soon.
distraction of iran,venezuelan,china oil and gas deals as well as india is usa/nato plan to destroy russia economically and split up.financing of ukraine war is worst case scenario hidden agenda.
putin inaction for preventing russia army from using orisnik missiles are time consuming to enable enemy to orientate to defend it self.just like shoigu and gerisamove starve wagner in bakmut to die.
if there is surprise attack from usa/nato on russia while under putin control russia will be gone forever.troops re not nuclear ready to be fine tune yet s putin please enemies thinking their like him.
moscow’s mediocre little man is stuck in donbass while his allies are in grave danger.
and is china doing something?
and the brics?