US Pivots Venezuela Pressure Towards Oil Seizures

Latin America Correspondent Jon Bonfiglio speaks to Rosie Wright for Times Radio Early Breakfast. 

Transcript

Rosie Wright: 0:00

Let's look at some more international news now because the US has imposed, as you heard from Rob in the News, new sanctions on six more ships that they believe are carrying Venezuelan oil. Yesterday they seized a tanker off the country's coast. The White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt said the tanker had been involved in illicit oil shipping and would be taken to an American port. It has been a dramatic escalation in the last couple of days. American warships, as you know, have been moving around the coast of Venezuela, and this sort of US campaign against Maduro is escalating somewhat. Jon Bonfiglio is the Latin American correspondent who joins us now. John, thank you for your time. Can we start with the latest sanctions? What is this action taken now by the US?

Jon Bonfiglio: 0:44

So on the back of the seizure 48 hours ago, the US has sanctioned another six vessels and their parent companies and implicitly threatened to seize more uh Venezuelan tankers. Now, this is relevant because 25% of Venezuela's GDP and 95% of its exports come from oil, even at highly reduced uh production rates. So this isn't really as much of an escalation or a military escalation as I think is being presented uh on the airways. Um it's not about uh more likely US military incursions or war. Rather, it's a shift in policy, an economic attack on Venezuela, an attempt to tighten the noose uh still further. It's also an implicit acceptance of the failure of policies to date to remove Maduro, including the boat strikes in the Southern Caribbean.

Rosie Wright: 1:32

Yeah, so what are the repercussions of that quite extraordinary escalation actually that we saw yesterday?

Jon Bonfiglio: 1:39

Well, the repercussions are uh, I mean, domestically Congress uh is uh displaying increasing misgivings, uh bilateral to at least some uh extent. Uh, Vladimir Putin has once again uh re-emerged and um uh stated, emphasized his support for Venezuela. Also, I think it's also interesting that um nominally at least the seizure of the vessel was undertaken by the US Coast Guard and not the military. It took place in international waters, and the announcement uh of the seizure beyond Trump was actually undertaken by Pam Bondi, Attorney General, and not Pete Hegseth, which I again I think is a is a sort of subtle indicator of the fact that we're not moving towards war, but that this is a shift in policy uh as an attack on on uh Nicolas Maduro rather than an escalation in military tactics.

Rosie Wright: 2:34

Yeah, what is America's justification for their actions?

Jon Bonfiglio: 2:38

Well, the justification is that this is that uh Venezuelan oil is sanctioned cargo, that it's operating illegally, and also that they undertake, these vessels undertake dangerous uh procedures given that they uh uh they're part of the ghost fleet, so they can't generally sort of just uh unload in in official ports, so they often undertake ship-to-ship transfers of oil on the open seas. It's it's worth saying that, of course, these sanctions are US uh imposed, and that brings up some legal questions, um, in particular given the fact that this seizure took place, didn't take place in US waters or in a US port took place in international waters. So there's questions about the jurisdiction. And um further, a secondary point is the fact that if you were to, under international law, to seize a vessel for potential criminal activity, you certainly wouldn't commandeer and decide that you were then going to own the oil that it was uh it was carrying for yourself.

Rosie Wright: 3:31

Yeah, I mean, and this is happening at such a diplomatically sensitive time. You know, we've got the NATO chief telling Europe prepare for for war with Russia and and sort of a at times a confusing picture about the US's uh allegiances. Just help us put Venezuela into context here. How important is is for Russia is Putin and Russia to Venezuela?

Jon Bonfiglio: 3:58

I think this is really interesting. Um, I mean, I I think it's pretty clear that Maduro would not be in power today if it were not for Russian and Chinese support, especially financial support. Russia has provided liquidity loans, military hardware. Uh recently it just uh it sent a sort of missile defense shield just a couple of weeks ago. It provided training, uh parallel currency systems in order for Venezuela to bypass uh sanctions. Um, and only a few weeks ago, Russia indicated the potential for supplying Venezuela with nuclear-capable uh missiles. In the call that Putin pointedly made uh yesterday to Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela, he emphasized the continuing support in order that the country be able to uphold its sovereignty, international law, and peace throughout Latin America.

Rosie Wright: 4:45

Okay, that gives you an idea of the context. John, thank you very much, John Bonfilio, Latin America correspondent, on those uh latest sanctions the US have imposed on six more ships that they believe are carrying Venezuelan oil. John, thank you for the update.