The US Coast Guard stopped and boarded an oil tanker in the Caribbean early Saturday that was last docked in Venezuela, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said, after President Donald Trump ordered a blockade.
The Centuries supertanker laden with up to 2 million barrels of Venezuelan crude was flying a Panamanian flag, according to people familiar with the matter. A Chinese company holds title to the oil, the people added. The crew of about 40 people were mostly Chinese, a person said.
This marks the second tanker interdicted this month by US personnel. But unlike the first vessel, which was interdicted on Dec. 10, Centuries didn’t previously appear on US sanctions lists or notices.
The tanker contained sanctioned oil by state-owned Petróleos de Venezuela SA, White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in a post on X.
“It was a falsely flagged vessel operating as part of the Venezuelan shadow fleet to traffic stolen oil and fund the narcoterrorist Maduro regime,” she wrote.
Noem said in a post on social media that the Defense Department assisted in the “pre-dawn” operation.
Venezuelan Vice President and Oil Minister Delcy Rodriguez condemned “the theft and kidnapping” of the tanker, calling the move “a serious act of piracy” by the US government.
“The colonial model that the US government seeks to impose will fail,” she wrote Saturday on social media.
On Dec. 10, the Trump administration detained the Skipper, which had last called at a Venezuelan port and was described by US officials as a “stateless vessel” sanctioned for allegedly participating in “an illicit oil shipping network supporting foreign terrorist organizations.”
Trump has been stepping up pressure on Nicolás Maduro’s government as he aims to choke off a key revenue stream for Venezuela. He also designated the Maduro government as a foreign terrorist organization, accusing it of involvement in drug trafficking.
The newest incident may further inflame tensions. Trump said he doesn’t rule out a war with Venezuela, NBC reported on Friday, citing a phone interview with the president. When asked if US military strikes could lead to a war, he said “I don’t discuss it.”
Separately, Trump nominated Marine Corps Lieutenant General Francis Donovan as head of US Southern Command, which has responsibility for operations related to the Venezuelan blockade. Donovan currently serves as the vice commander for US Special Operations Command.
Venezuela’s oil production reached the government’s 1.2 million barrels per day target, Venezuela’s Rodriguez said in an earlier Telegram post on Saturday.
This “confronts and defeats the harassment, hostility, and imperialist illegality that attacks and violates Venezuelans’ human rights,” she said.
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