The United States has seized a second oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela after President Trump ordered a complete blockade of “all sanctioned oil tankers” moving in and out of the country.
Kristi Noem, the secretary of homeland security, said on Saturday evening that the US coast guard had “apprehended an oil tanker that was last docked in Venezuela” in a pre-dawn raid.
“The United States will continue to pursue the illicit movement of sanctioned oil that is used to fund narco terrorism in the region. We will find you, and we will stop you,” she said.
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The vessel, named Centuries, is not believed to be subject to US sanctions and was not mentioned on a sanctions list publicly maintained by the Treasury Department.
Cargo on the Panamanian-flagged tanker belonged to an established Chinese-based oil trader that is well known for transporting Venezuelan crude oil to Chinese refineries, The New York Times reported.
It was not immediately clear whether the Panamanian registration was valid. International law states that a ship may be boarded if there is reasonable ground to suggest it is not legitimately registered to the state whose flag it is flying.
President Trump salutes the coffin of a US soldier killed in Syria last weekend
AP PHOTO/JULIA DEMAREE NIKHINSON
This is the second time the US has interdicted such a vessel in as many weeks, part of a widely perceived attempt by the Trump administration to put a stranglehold on Venezuela’s economy and authoritarian regime, and ultimately remove President Maduro from power.
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Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff, has told Vanity Fair that Trump “wants to keep on blowing boats up until Maduro cries uncle [admits defeat]”.
This month US forces seized the Skipper, which was flying under a false flag and was under US sanctions for having carried Iranian oil.
Up to a quarter of the Venezuelan economy depends on oil and is already facing mounting issues as the stand-off with the US drags on.
Venezuela began struggling with a drop in oil tanker movements to and from its shores after the Skipper was seized. Its storage capacity is days away from filling up, according to Bloomberg, meaning the country may soon have to begin closing some of its oil wells.
• Oil prices rise after Trump steps up blockade of Venezuela
Maduro has ordered that some vessels carrying Venezuelan oil be escorted by the navy. It is not clear if this was the case with Centuries.
On Thursday, Russia warned Trump not to make “a fatal mistake” on Venezuela. President Sheinbaum of Mexico called on the UN “to prevent any bloodshed and seek peaceful solutions to conflicts”.
Previously Trump has focused primarily on drug trafficking to defend his military and financial pressure. Announcing the blockade, he justified it by saying Maduro had taken US assets, demanding that Caracas “return to the United States of America all of the Oil, Land, and other Assets that they previously stole from us”.
“I am ordering A TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE OF ALL SANCTIONED OIL TANKERS going into, and out of, Venezuela,” he added.
US fighters jets sit on the tarmac at José Aponte de la Torre airport in Puerto Rico,
MIGUEL J RODRIGUEZ CARRILLO/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Trump has already ordered the largest naval deployment in the Caribbean for 30 years. His administration also oversees strikes on smaller boats carrying alleged “narcoterrorists”, a campaign which has so far targeted at least 28 boats and killed 104 people.