US signals shift on Venezuela with reported oil tanker return, airspace opening
WASHINGTON (TNND) — The United States will reportedly hand over one of the seized oil tankers to Venezuela after carrying out a months-long effort to prevent sanctioned oil from being used to benefit adversaries, officials told Reuters.
Officials speaking on the condition of anonymity told the outlet that the vessel being handed over to Venezuelan authorities is the Panama-flagged supertanker M/T Sophia. A reason why the tanker was being returned was not provided.
Coast Guard and U.S. military forces interdicted the Sophia on Jan. 7, according to U.S. Southern Command, which described it as "a stateless, sanctioned dark fleet motor tanker."
The first sanctioned oil tanker was seized on Dec. 10 as part of an effort to push former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro from power.
When that failed, President Donald Trump ordered U.S. forces fly into the country in a surprise nighttime raid on Jan. 3 to capture Maduro and his wife.
Since then, the Trump administration said it plans to open up Venezuelan oil sales under U.S. control, use the proceeds to stabilize the country, attract massive U.S. oil industry investment, and maintain leverage over the energy sector during Venezuela’s political transition.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio briefed lawmakers on the operation on Wednesday and outlined an interim plan for Venezuela’s heavily sanctioned oil sector.
He said money from oil sales will be deposited in an account controlled by the U.S. Treasury and will be released after Washington approves monthly budgets to be submitted by Venezuelan authorities.
"The funds from that will be deposited into an account that we will have oversight over," Rubio said. Venezuela, he added, "will spend that money for the benefit of the Venezuelan people."
Trump said during a Cabinet meeting on Thursday that he had informed acting Venezuelan leader Delcy Rodríguez that he’s going to be opening up all commercial airspace over Venezuela.
“American citizens will be very shortly able to go to Venezuela, and they’ll be safe there," the president said.
