Washington DC (US) [United States], December 12 (HBTV): The United States imposed sanctions on three nephews of Venezuela’s First Lady Cilia Flores and six shipping companies linked to the country's oil sector on Thursday, a day after President Donald Trump announced the seizure of a ‘very large’ oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela.
According to the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the sanctions target Efrain Antonio Campo Flores and Franqui Francisco Flores de Freitas, commonly known as the ‘narco-nephews’, who were convicted in the US in 2016 on drug trafficking charges. Although they received presidential clemency in 2022 under former president Joe Biden’s administration, OFAC stated that they have reportedly continued narcotics operations in Venezuela. The third sanctioned nephew, Carlos Erik Malpica Flores, a former official in Venezuela’s state-owned oil company PDVSA and a former national treasurer, was redesignated on the Specially Designated Nationals list for his ties to the Maduro regime.
OFAC also sanctioned Panamanian businessman Ramon Carretero Napolitano, who is engaged in petroleum shipments and business dealings with the Maduro-Flores family, along with six shipping companies and their vessels operating in Venezuela’s oil sector. The companies—Myra Marine Limited, Arctic Voyager Incorporated, Poweroy Investment Limited, Ready Great Limited, Sino Marine Services Limited, and Full Happy Limited—were cited for deceptive shipping practices and for transporting Venezuelan oil to Asia. Their vessels, including the WHITE CRANE, KIARA M, H. CONSTANCE, LATTAFA, TAMIA, and MONIQUE, are now blocked under US sanctions.
The department said the sanctions block all property and interests in property of the designated individuals and entities within US jurisdiction. US persons are prohibited from engaging in transactions involving these blocked parties, with violations subject to civil or criminal penalties.
In its statement, OFAC noted that all property and interests in property of designated persons located in the United States or controlled by US persons are blocked and must be reported. It added that any entities owned, directly or indirectly, 50 per cent or more by blocked individuals are also subject to sanctions. Without a specific OFAC licence or exemption, US persons are barred from conducting transactions involving blocked assets, and penalties may be imposed on a strict liability basis.
US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent said the sanctions respond to what he described as Maduro’s ‘dictatorial and brutal control’ over Venezuela. He alleged that Maduro and his associates were responsible for drugs entering the United States and criticised the previous US administration’s approach to Venezuela.
The sanctions announcement came a day after Trump said US authorities had seized an oil tanker off the Venezuelan coast. US Attorney General Pamela Bondi later confirmed the seizure, stating that the vessel had been transporting sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran. She said the operation was carried out jointly by the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, and the US Coast Guard, with support from the Department of War.
According to a senior US official cited by CNN, the seizure took place in international waters without any incidents or injuries. The tanker, which had been en route to Cuba and ultimately intended for Asia after being brokered through Cuban intermediaries, was previously sanctioned in 2022 for facilitating oil trades on behalf of Hezbollah and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force.
Following the seizure, the Venezuelan government condemned the action as an ‘act of international piracy’. The operation forms part of a broader US campaign to pressure the Maduro administration. US reports state that these operations have resulted in 87 fatalities and the destruction of 23 alleged drug boats.
(ANI)