Quill Lawrence

military pressure campaign included boarding ships that were skirting the American blockade of that country's oil.

But one tanker, then called the Bella One, refused to halt and led the U.S.

Coast Guard on a chase thousands of miles across the Atlantic.

On the way, it renamed itself and, more importantly, re-flagged as a Russian ship.

It may have been headed to a Russian port in the Arctic when U.S.

forces boarded it.

The Department of Homeland Security also announced it seized another tanker in the Caribbean, which is being taken to an American port.

President Trump says the U.S.

is going to take billions of dollars worth of oil from Venezuela.

Quill Lawrence, NPR News.

A video posted by the U.S.

military shows a small boat under fire and then in flames.

The Trump administration says it is at war with drug cartels and can therefore kill suspected traffickers even if they are unarmed.

Dozens of boats have been hit since September, killing more than 100 people.

Critics in Congress and experts on the laws of war say that's murder.

President Trump has mentioned the strikes as a way to pressure Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, whom he accuses of narco-trafficking.

At a press event yesterday, President Trump said it would be smart for Maduro to step down.

The U.S.

has strict sanctions on Venezuela, and now the U.S.

Coast Guard has begun seizing massive tankers carrying Venezuelan crude oil.