CNC STATEMENT:
The United States’ seizure of a Venezuelan oil tanker off the country’s own coastline represents a profound and deeply troubling escalation in Washington’s ongoing campaign of economic warfare, political destabilization, and open aggression against the sovereign nations of Venezuela and Cuba. This action—carried out under the authorization of President Donald Trump and executed by the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, and the U.S. Coast Guard—amounts to nothing less than a flagrant violation of international law, a further assault on the rights of nations to trade freely, and a continuation of a long and destructive history of U.S. imperial intervention in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The dramatic militarized raid, complete with armed operatives descending from helicopters onto the vessel, is part of a broader strategy of coercion aimed at toppling the government of Nicolás Maduro and strangling the Cuban economy. The United States has justified the seizure with vague references to sanctions, unverifiable claims of “terrorist connections,” and sweeping allegations regarding an “illicit oil network.” Yet such rationales have historically served as pretexts for unilateral coercive measures designed not to uphold international norms but to impose the political will of Washington.
The tanker—believed to be the Panama-flagged Skipper—was reportedly transporting Venezuelan crude to Cuba, where it would be refined and sold to Asian brokers. Such commercial transactions, entirely legal under international law, have been criminalized solely because the U.S. seeks to dictate which nations may engage in sovereign economic activity. By targeting vessels supporting the Venezuelan-Cuban energy relationship, the United States aims to undermine decades of cooperation between two nations linked by shared histories of anti-imperialist struggle, solidarity, and resistance.
This escalation does not occur in a vacuum. It comes just days after Trump refused to rule out deploying troops to Venezuela, adding to the administration’s reinstatement of crippling sanctions, its bolstering of military forces in the Caribbean, and its use of lethal force against vessels it claims are involved in drug trafficking. The seizure is therefore part of a continuum of coercive measures and aggressions designed to suffocate Venezuela’s economy, delegitimize its political leadership, and punish its alliances—especially with socialist and revolutionary states.
Furthermore, the assertion by Trump that the United States would “keep the oil” underscores the predatory nature of these actions. The casualness with which he implied U.S. entitlement to the confiscated cargo betrays the underlying logic of this intervention: exploitation, resource control, and plunder, and geopolitical domination.
The seizure also threatens global maritime security by normalizing the interdiction of commercial vessels based not on multilateral agreements, legal rulings, or UN mandates, but on unilateral U.S. sanctions. This sets a dangerous precedent in which powerful states may seize ships at will, disrupt supply chains, and weaponize access to energy resources. Notably, analysts have warned that such dramatic moves add a “geopolitical floor” to oil prices by injecting instability into global sea lanes.
It is important to underscore that unilateral sanctions imposed by one country against another—outside of the UN system—are illegal under international law, including the UN Charter and the principles of sovereign equality and non-intervention. The U.S.’s increasingly aggressive enforcement of these sanctions through physical interdiction represents a grave threat to the integrity of international norms and to smaller nations already squeezed by global power imbalances.
For Cuba and Venezuela—nations with long histories of resisting external domination—the seizure represents yet another attempt by the United States to break their resistance, undermine their economic survival, and punish them for pursuing independent paths rooted in social justice, sovereignty, and regional solidarity.
We condemn in the strongest possible terms this act of piracy, coercion, and imperial aggression. We stand in solidarity with the peoples of Venezuela and Cuba as they confront yet another assault on their sovereignty. We call on the international community, multilateral institutions, and all defenders of international law to denounce this seizure, oppose the normalization of unilateral coercive measures, and work toward a world order grounded not in domination but in equity, justice, and respect for the self-determination of all nations.
Isaac Saney, Executive Committee
Canadian Network on Cuba