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U.S. Seizes Another Oil Tanker as Venezuela’s Interim President Proposes Opening Oil Sector

HeadlineJan 16, 2026

U.S. forces have seized another oil tanker with ties to Venezuela in the Caribbean. This is the sixth vessel to be captured by the Trump administration as part of a broader campaign to control Venezuela’s oil industry since a U.S. military strike earlier this month led to the kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife from Caracas. On Thursday Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodríguez announced she’d move to propose a reform in Venezuela’s hydrocarbon law, which would facilitate U.S. and foreign investors’ access to Venezuela’s oil. On Thursday she met in Caracas with CIA Director John Ratcliffe.

This comes as protests against U.S. imperialism have spread across the region. Demonstrators in Colombia gathered outside the U.S. Embassy in Bogotá.

Juan Fernando Romero: “It is an attack on all of Latin America, and therefore all of Latin America must mobilize to confront and resist this onslaught of imperialism, which, as Trump himself said, is an imperialism that only seeks profits and oil, without regard for human beings.”

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