By FATIMA HUSSEIN
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. on Wednesday imposed sanctions on four firms operating in Venezuela’s oil sector and designated four additional oil tankers, which the U.S. accuses of being part of a shadow fleet serving Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s government, as blocked property.
The action is part of the Trump administration’s monthslong pressure campaign on Maduro. U.S. forces also have seized two oil tankers off Venezuela’s coast, are pursuing another and have conducted a series of deadly strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean.
A set of strikes announced Wednesday increased the death toll from the attacks to at least 110 people since early September. And in a new escalation marking the first known direct operation on Venezuelan soil, the CIA carried out a drone strike last week at a docking area believed to have been used by drug cartels.
The latest sanctions from the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control target ships called Nord Star, Lunar Tide, Rosalind and Della, and their registered ownership companies.
“Today’s sanctions continue President Trump’s pressure campaign on Maduro and his cronies,” State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said in a statement. “The Trump Administration is committed to disrupting the network that props up Maduro and his illegitimate regime.”
The sanctions are meant to deny the firms and tankers access to any property or financial assets held in the U.S. People, banks and financial institutions that violate that restriction expose themselves to sanctions or enforcement actions.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the United States “will not allow the illegitimate Maduro regime to profit from exporting oil while it floods the United States with deadly drugs.”
President Donald Trump has announced a “blockade” of all sanctioned oil tankers coming in and out of the South American country. He has demanded that Venezuela return assets that it seized from U.S. oil companies years ago and has said Maduro’s government is using oil profits to fund drug trafficking and other crimes.
“The Treasury Department will continue to implement President Trump’s campaign of pressure on Maduro’s regime,” Bessent said.