Caracas denounces cyberattack amid US "strategy" to seize its oil

Venezuela's state-owned Petróleos de Venezuela (Pdvsa) reported this Monday that it was the target of a "cyber attack aimed at stopping its operability", which, it warned, adds to the United States' "strategy" of "taking" Venezuelan crude "by force and piracy". In a statement, Pdvsa "categorically" rejected what it called a "despicable action" that was "orchestrated by foreign interests in complicity with stateless factors seeking to undermine the country's right to its sovereign energy development." "It's not the first time that the United States Government, allied with extremist sectors, has tried to affect national stability and steal Christmas from the Venezuelan people," he pointed out. You can also read: Disability Roundtable, coordinated by Mirna López, promotes resolution to strengthen inclusive sport However, thanks to "the expertise of Pdvsa's human talent, the operational areas were not affected at all, being reduced to an attack on its administrative system", according to the text. "The operational continuity of the industry is maintained through the implementation of safe protocols that allow its regular activities in the supply of products in the national market, as well as for the fulfillment of all its export commitments," he assured. The state-owned company makes this denunciation five days after Nicolás Maduro's government warned of the "blatant theft" by the U.S. of an oil tanker off the Venezuelan coast, amid the U.S. military deployment in the Caribbean Sea, seen by Caracas as a "threat" to bring about a regime change. That day, December 10, the President of the United States, Donald Trump, had announced that his country intercepted and seized an oil tanker off the coast of the South American country, which heightened tensions between Washington and Caracas, without relations since 2019. Subsequently, the Chavista Executive said that this "new criminal act adds to the theft of Citgo", a subsidiary of Pdvsa in US territory, and announced that it will go to international instances to denounce "this serious international crime". According to The New York Times, the tanker, named Skipper and sailing under a false flag, was seized by order of a US judge for its previous links to the smuggling of Iranian oil, sanctioned by Washington, although on this occasion it was transporting Venezuelan crude.