US issues fresh sanctions targeting Maduro’s family, Venezuela-linked oil tankers

By Daphne Psaledakis and Marianna Parraga

WASHINGTON, Dec 11 (Reuters) – The United States on Thursday issued new sanctions targeting Venezuela, imposing curbs on three nephews of President Nicolas Maduro’s wife, as well as six crude oil tankers and shipping companies linked to them, as Washington ramps up pressure on Caracas.

The action came as the U.S. executes a large-scale military buildup in the southern Caribbean and as U.S. President Donald Trump campaigns for Maduro’s ouster. On Wednesday, Trump said the U.S. had seized a sanctioned oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela.

The U.S. Treasury Department, in a statement, said it imposed sanctions on six shipping companies moving Venezuelan oil, as well as six crude oil tankers linked to them. Four of the tankers, including the 2002-built H. Constance and the 2003-built Lattafa, are Panama-flagged, with the other two flagged by the Cook Islands and Hong Kong.

The targeted vessels are supertankers that recently loaded crude in Venezuela, according to state oil company PDVSA’s internal shipping documents.

Franqui Flores and Efrain Antonio Campo Flores, nephews of Venezuelan first lady Cilia Flores, were also hit with sanctions. The two were dubbed the “narco nephews” after their arrest in Haiti in 2015 in a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration sting operation.

They were convicted in 2016 on charges that they tried to carry out a multimillion-dollar cocaine deal and sentenced to 18 years in prison, but were released in a 2022 prison swap with Venezuela.

The Venezuelan communications ministry, which handles press inquiries for the government, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Wednesday’s seizure was the first of a Venezuelan oil cargo amid U.S. sanctions that have been in force since 2019. It is the Trump administration’s first known action against a Venezuela-related tanker since he ordered a massive military buildup in the region.

Trump has repeatedly raised the possibility of military intervention in Venezuela, accusing it of sending narcotics to the United States.

The U.S. has already carried out more than 20 strikes against suspected drug vessels, which have raised concerns among lawmakers and legal experts.

(Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis, Marianna Parraga, Katharine Jackson, David Ljunggren and Costas Pitas; Editing by Caitlin Webber and Rod Nickel)