Venezuela accuses US of 'extortion' over seizure of oil tankers

[ad_1] Venezuela has accused the US of the "best extortion" at an emergency session of the UN Safety Council in New York.

Washington's seizure of two Venezuelan oil tankers was "worse than piracy," the Venezuelan ambassador to the UN mentioned.

The emergency assembly of the Safety Council was known as to debate the seizure of the tankers, which befell off the coast of Venezuela earlier this month.

The US has additionally mentioned it was pursuing a 3rd Venezuelan oil tanker.

President Trump has accused Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro of main a medication cartel and mentioned gangs had operated with impunity for too lengthy.

On 16 December, Trump ordered a naval blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers getting into and leaving Venezuela. The US president has mentioned the US will maintain or promote the crude oil contained on tankers it has seized, in addition to the vessels themselves.

The US has deployed 15,000 troops and a spread of plane carriers, guided-missile destroyers, and amphibious assault ships to the Caribbean.

The acknowledged purpose of the deployment - the most important to the area because the US invaded Panama in 1989 - is to cease the circulation of fentanyl and cocaine to the US.

The US has additionally focused greater than 20 vessels within the Pacific and the Caribbean in latest months, killing at the least 100 individuals, as a part of President Trump's marketing campaign in opposition to gangs he accuses of transporting medication within the area.

Some specialists say the strikes might violate legal guidelines governing armed battle.

Venezuela's envoy to the UN mentioned the US was subjecting his nation to the "best extortion" in its historical past.

Talking on the UN Safety Council assembly on Tuesday, Samuel Moncada mentioned "we're within the presence of an influence that acts outdoors of worldwide regulation, demanding that Venezuelans vacate our nation and hand it over."

Relating to the US seizure of Venezuelan oil, he added: "We're speaking about pillaging, looting and recolonisation of Venezuela.

"The federal government of the US doesn't have jurisdiction within the Caribbean."

Referring to the Venezuelan oil business, he mentioned: "What does that should do with medication?"

In response, the US Ambassador to the UN, Michael Waltz, informed the Safety Council the US doesn't recognise Mr Maduro because the official chief of Venezuela.

"Maduro's potential to promote Venezuela's oil permits his fraudulent claims to energy and his narco-terrorist actions," Mr Waltz mentioned.

On a go to to a commerce truthful in Caracas, President Maduro mentioned "the Safety Council is giving overwhelming help to Venezuela."

Russia and China accused the US of bullying and aggression.

The US was "illegally destroying" civilian vessels within the Caribbean Sea, the Russian ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, informed the UN assembly.

He warned that different international locations may very well be subsequent.

The US actions in opposition to Venezuelan vessels, he mentioned, have been "a template for future acts of pressure in opposition to Latin American states."

In the meantime, China's envoy to the UN, Solar Lei, known as on the US to "instantly halt related actions and keep away from additional escalation of tensions."