US military forces abseil onto an oil tanker during an unlawful raid described by Venezuela as an act of piracy by the US empire off the coast of Venezuela, December 10, 2025. Photo: US Attorney General's Office.
Caracas (OrinocoTribune.com)—Venezuela has condemned the seizure of an oil tanker publicly announced earlier by US President Donald Trump as a “blatant robbery and an act of international piracy.” Trump claimed the operation took place “off the coast” of the South American country.
“As you probably know, we just seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “A very big one. In fact, the biggest one ever seized. And there are other things happening, you’ll see that soon,” he continued, adding in response to a question about the oil’s fate, “I guess we’ll keep the oil.”
US Attorney General Pam Bondi later informed that the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, and the US Coast Guard, with support from the Department of War, executed a seizure warrant for a tanker carrying so-called “sanctioned oil” from Venezuela and Iran. Mainstream media identified the vessel as the Guyanese-flagged Skipper, reporting that two US MH-60 Seahawk helicopters carrying special forces, ten marines, and ten coast guards were involved in the operation.
Reports conflicted on the cargo size, citing between 1.1 and 2 million barrels of oil destined for Cuba and Asian markets. Recent unconfirmed reports place the boarding location north of Trinidad and Tobago and south of Grenada in the eastern Caribbean Sea.
WATCH: U.S. forces seize oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela pic.twitter.com/xCJjDP2oY3
— BNO News (@BNONews) December 10, 2025
Act of piracy
In a statement released on Wednesday, December 10, Foreign Minister Yván Gil strongly condemned the “assault confessed by the White House.” The statement emphasized that the act constitutes a flagrant violation of international law and announced Venezuela will take the matter to multilateral bodies, including the UN, to demand accountability.
Gil noted this is not the first time Trump has revealed his interest in seizing Venezuelan crude oil, recalling his 2024 campaign statement that the goal was “to take Venezuelan oil without paying anything in return.” For Caracas, this merely serves to reiterate that Washington’s policy is a deliberate plan to plunder Venezuela’s energy resources.
It was emphasized that the real reasons for hostility are not migration, drug trafficking, democracy, or human rights, as the White House likes to purport, but control over the oil, energy, and riches belonging to the Venezuelan people.
This is not the first US colonial theft of Venezuelan oil. In October 2022, Washington launched a similar operation against the Russian-operated tanker Olympic. In a more dramatic earlier incident, US imperialism seized 1.1 million barrels of Iranian oil destined for Venezuela in August 2020 by interdicting four Iranian tankers: Luna, Pandi, Bering, and Bella.
On Wednesday night, Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello stated during his television program Con el Mazo Dando that Washington “wants to steal the oil, steal the gold, steal the gas, steal the water,” calling the seizure a direct act of aggression. “They believe that all the psychological terrorism they have inflicted on the people of Venezuela these days will make us break, but they are wrong,” he said, suggesting the maneuver seeks to divert attention from “the disaster they created in Norway,” regarding the Nobel Peace Prize awarding ceremony honoring the far-right MarĂa Corina Machado.
Simultaneously, Vice President Delcy RodrĂguez warned the seizure constitutes an “international crime” with criminal liability. She announced Venezuela “will go to international bodies to denounce” the act and defend its sovereignty, urging internal unity and calling on the global community to reject the aggression.
Below, you can read the unofficial translation of the Venezuelan government’s statement:
The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela strongly denounces and repudiates what constitutes a blatant theft and an act of international piracy, publicly announced by the President of the United States, who confessed to the attack on an oil tanker in the Caribbean Sea. This is not the first time he has admitted this; during his 2024 campaign, he openly stated that his objective has always been to seize Venezuelan oil without paying any compensation, making it clear that the policy of aggression against our country is part of a deliberate plan to plunder our energy resources.
This new criminal act adds to the theft of Citgo, an important asset of the strategic patrimony of all Venezuelans, seized through fraudulent judicial mechanisms and outside of any norm.
Humanity is awakening and fighting against the imperial abuses of the North, as demonstrated by numerous and well-attended protests in various US states and European cities. The Venezuelan people also gave a resounding demonstration in the streets of Venezuela to defend the peace of our country.
Under these circumstances, the true reasons for the prolonged aggression against Venezuela have finally been revealed. It is not migration. It is not drug trafficking. It is not democracy. It is not human rights. It has always been about our natural resources, our oil, our energy, the resources that belong exclusively to the Venezuelan people.
We also denounce that this act of piracy seeks to distract attention and cover up the resounding failure of the political show staged today in Oslo, where the manipulations and lack of results of those who have attempted for years, without any success, a “regime change” operation, through violence and in open complicity with Western governments, were once again exposed.
Venezuela calls on all Venezuelans to stand firm in defense of the homeland, and urges the international community to reject this vandalistic, illegal and unprecedented aggression that is being normalized as a tool of pressure and looting.
The Bolivarian government reaffirms that it will appeal to all existing international bodies to denounce this grave international crime, and will defend with absolute determination its sovereignty, its natural resources, and its national dignity. Venezuela will not allow any foreign power to attempt to deprive the Venezuelan people of what belongs to them by historical and constitutional right.
Caracas, December 10, 2025
International reactions
Russia reported on Thursday, December 11, that a phone conversation had been held between Presidents Vladimir Putin and Nicolás Maduro. “Putin expressed solidarity with the Venezuelan people,” said the report, “and reaffirmed his support for the Maduro government’s policy aimed at protecting national interests and sovereignty in the face of growing external pressure.” The announcement coincided with the tanker seizure, and mentioned talks on strengthening the strategic bilateral relationship.
From Moscow, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov urged Washington to explain the seizure’s basis. “I really hope that the US, although they consider themselves entitled to conduct such operations, will somehow explain, out of respect for other members of the world community, what facts led them to take such actions,” he said, during a roundtable in Moscow.
“Cuba expresses its full support for the statement of denunciation by the Venezuelan government,” said Cuban President Miguel DĂaz-Canel, reiterating his support, “and strongly condemns the assault on an oil tanker in the Caribbean Sea, perpetrated by the United States Armed forces. This constitutes an act of piracy, a violation of International Law and an escalation of aggression against that brother country.”
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum also reiterated her support for Venezuela’s sovereignty. During a regular morning press conference, Sheinbaum stated that MĂ©xico will maintain its firm foreign policy based on non-intervention and respect for self-determination, warning that the US regime’s maneuvers are a form of illegitimate and immoral pressure.
The Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America – People’s Trade Treaty issued a statement categorically condemning “the act of vulgar piracy” and the illegal confiscation of the tanker. The document emphasized this “very serious” violation of international law and direct attack on Venezuela’s sovereignty, demanding the ship’s immediate return and an end to actions seizing Venezuelan property.
Special for Orinoco Tribune by staff
OT/JRE/AU
