Washington's seizure of two Venezuelan oil tankers was "worse than piracy," the Venezuelan ambassador to the UN said. The emergency meeting of the Security Council was called to discuss the seizure of the tankers, which took place off the coast of Venezuela earlier this month. The US has also said it was pursuing a third Venezuelan oil tanker. President Trump has accused Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro of leading a drugs cartel and said gangs had operated with impunity for too long. On 16 December, Trump ordered a naval blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela.

The US president has said the US will keep or sell the crude oil it has taken, as well as the vessels themselves. The US has been building up its military presence in the Pacific and Caribbean Seas in recent months, sending 15,000 troops and a range of aircraft carriers and warships to the area. It is the largest deployment to the region since the US invaded Panama in 1989, and the stated aim is to stop the flow of fentanyl and cocaine to the US. The US has carried out strikes on what it says are Venezuelan drug-smuggling boats, targeting more than 20 vessels and killing at least 100 people. Some experts say the strikes could violate laws governing armed conflict. Venezuela's envoy to the UN said the US was subjecting his country to the "greatest extortion" in its history. Speaking at the UN Security Council meeting on Tuesday, Samuel Moncada said "we are in the presence of a power that acts outside of international law, demanding that Venezuelans vacate our country and hand it over." Regarding the US seizure of Venezuelan oil, he added: "We are talking about pillaging, looting and recolonisation of Venezuela. "The government of the United States does not have jurisdiction in the Caribbean." (BBC)