Venezuelan security forces have detained several Americans over the past few months. Donald Trump ordered the US military to begin attacks on suspected drug traffickers in the Caribbean and blocking the exit of oil tankers believed to be sanctioned from the country.
New York Times quotes US representative who told the news outlet that The State Department was considering the possibility of appointing two Americans, including one Staten Island traveler identified as James Lucky-Lange, who was unlawfully detained.
The 28-year-old is the son of musician Diana Luckey, who performed under the stage name Q Lazzarus and is known for her 1988 single “Goodbye Horses”, which was featured in the 1991 psychological thriller. Silence of the Lambs.
Identities of other Americans held in Venezuelan captivity has not yet been made public. Some of the detained Americans face legitimate criminal charges, police said. Times source.
Escalating U.S. political and military pressure on Nicolás Maduro's government has been ongoing for months, as the Trump administration accuses Maduro's government of being controlled by Maduro's own drug smuggling operation, the Cartel de los Soles.
Previously, Maduro used captured US citizens as pressure in negotiations with Washington. Conversely, Trump has made the release of Americans held abroad in any territory a priority in his two presidencies.
Within days of returning to office, the president said he sent U.S. Ambassador Richard Grenell to Venezuela to negotiate a deal with the prisoners. New York Times. A prisoner exchange in July resulted in the release of 10 U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents.
Reports of the newly detained Americans come as the State Department announced sanctions Wednesday against four companies it said were “operating illegally in Venezuela's oil sector.”
“The Trump Administration is also blocking four associated oil tankers that are part of the shadow fleet that finances the illegitimate, corrupt regime of Nicolás Maduro and allows Maduro and his cronies to evade sanctions,” Trump said. statement read.
“Today's sanctions continue President Trump's pressure campaign against Maduro and his cronies. The Trump Administration is committed to dismantling the network that supports Maduro and his illegitimate regime.”
Independent has contacted the State Department for comment on reports of detainees in Venezuela.
Some of the tankers stopped or intercepted by U.S. forces are part of a so-called “shadow fleet” of dozens of vessels that use front companies and flags of convenience to circumvent U.S. sanctions and international laws.
“These vessels, some of which are part of the shadow fleet servicing Venezuela, continue to provide financial resources that fuel Maduro's illegitimate narco-terrorism regime. The Maduro regime increasingly relies on the shadow fleet of vessels around the world to facilitate sanctioned activities, including sanctions evasion, and to profit from its destabilizing operations. Today's actions once again signal that those involved in the Venezuelan trade oil continue to face significant sanctions risks,” the US Treasury Department said in a statement on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, U.S. military strikes on small vessels operating in the Caribbean have killed more than 100 people since the campaign began this year. The Trump administration, which has not provided public evidence, claims the boats were used to smuggle drugs.
The White House has not asked Congress for authorization to use military force in the region, but efforts to push through war powers resolutions to limit the administration's strikes have failed.
International experts and critics of the administration in the United States have called the strikes extrajudicial killings and accused the administration of using lethal force against suspected criminals who pose no immediate threat to anyone's lives, in terms that are unacceptable to law enforcement.
The administration and its allies rejected the criticism. Outrage over the growing number of military strikes grew significantly earlier this year after news emerged of a September operation that included a second strike on a crippled ship that killed wounded survivors clinging to the wreckage to stay afloat.
On Monday CNN reported that earlier in December the CIA struck a pier on the Venezuelan coast with no reported casualties, marking the first operation in Trump's military campaign to target Venezuelan soil.
