❓WHAT HAPPENED: The Trump administration has moved to sanction three of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro’s nephews, as well as a Panamanian businessman, following the seizure of an oil tanker by U.S. forces.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC); Maduro’s nephews Franqui Flores, Carlos Flores, and Efrain Campo; and Panamanian businessman Ramon Carretero.
📍WHEN & WHERE: The Skipper supertanker was seized by U.S. forces on Wednesday, with new sanctions announced late Thursday.
💬KEY QUOTE: “These sanctions undo the Biden Administration’s failed attempt to make a deal with Maduro, enabling his dictatorial and brutal control at the expense of the Venezuelan and American people.” — Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent
🎯IMPACT: The move comes just days after U.S. forces seized a sanctioned oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela.
The Trump administration has moved to sanction three of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro‘s nephews, as well as Panamanian businessman Ramon Carretero, who is accused of facilitating the illicit shipment of sanctioned petroleum on behalf of the Maduro regime. Franqui Flores, Carlos Flores, and Efrain Campo—nephews of Maduro’s wife, Cilia Flores—were hit with sanctions by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) late Thursday. All three are alleged to be narco-traffickers operating in Venezuela.
“Nicolas Maduro and his criminal associates in Venezuela are flooding the United States with drugs that are poisoning the American people,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement. “These sanctions undo the Biden Administration’s failed attempt to make a deal with Maduro, enabling his dictatorial and brutal control at the expense of the Venezuelan and American people,” he added.
Additionally, OFAC announced sanctions against several shipping companies operating in Venezuela’s oil sector. The move comes just days after U.S. forces seized a sanctioned oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela. The Skipper supertanker, carrying oil allegedly linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and bound for Cuba, was taken over by the U.S. Coast Guard with Navy support in a dramatic operation on Wednesday.
The White House released footage of the operation, showing U.S. forces airdropping onto the tanker by helicopter. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt described the tanker as a “shadow vessel” carrying black market oil. The oil will be retained by the U.S., while the crew will be released after docking in Texas.
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