The United States has intercepted another oil tanker in the Caribbean as part of its expanding campaign to control oil shipments leaving Venezuela, with the military describing the move as a step towards “restoring security in the Western Hemisphere”.US Southern Command said Marines and sailors seized the motor tanker Veronica in a pre-dawn operation conducted under Operation Southern Spear. Footage released by the command showed US personnel rappelling onto the vessel’s deck from helicopters before securing the ship.
In a post on X, Southern Command said the tanker was operating in defiance of President Donald Trump’s quarantine on sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean. “The only oil leaving Venezuela will be oil that is coordinated properly and lawfully,” the command said, adding that the interception demonstrated the effectiveness of the ongoing operation.The raid was carried out by forces launched from the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, with support from the Navy’s Amphibious Ready Group, including USS Iwo Jima, USS San Antonio and USS Fort Lauderdale. The operation was conducted in coordination with the Department of Homeland Security, the US Coast Guard and the Department of Justice.The seizure of the Veronica is the latest in a series of tanker interceptions as Washington tightens its grip on Venezuela’s oil trade.It is the fourth tanker apprehended since the dramatic capture and removal of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, and the sixth seized in recent weeks as part of a broader effort to dismantle what the administration calls a “ghost fleet” moving sanctioned oil.Earlier operations followed a similar pattern, with US forces boarding tankers suspected of attempting to evade American patrols by switching flags, altering ownership records or disabling tracking systems. In one recent case, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem described a seized vessel as having departed Venezuela without authorisation while trying to avoid detection.The Trump administration has framed the operations as law enforcement actions aimed at ending illicit activity across the region. However, senior officials have also made clear that controlling Venezuela’s oil exports is central to wider plans to rebuild the country’s energy sector under US oversight.
