The United States is preparing to intercept more vessels transporting Venezuelan oil following the recent seizure of a tanker in the Caribbean, according to six sources familiar with the operations.
The action, the first of its kind since Washington imposed oil sanctions on Venezuela in 2019, marks a decisive step in the pressure strategy against the Nicolás Maduro regime, whose hold on power is absolutely illegitimate.
The seizure of the vessel, identified as Skipper, takes place amid a broad U.S. military deployment in the southern Caribbean and a renewed push by President Donald Trump to cut off chavismo's sources of funding. Following the operation, several shipping companies and operators suspended or reconsidered their routes from Venezuelan ports, reflecting the immediate effect of the measure.
Several sources state that the United States plans to intervene in more vessels in the coming weeks, especially those that are part of the so-called "shadow fleet," used to move crude from sanctioned countries such as Venezuela, Iran, and Russia to buyers like China. According to these sources, Washington already has a list of targets that includes several previously sanctioned vessels.
The White House declined to detail future actions, but spokesperson Karoline Leavitt emphasized that the administration will continue to fully enforce its sanctions policies. "We're not going to allow sanctioned vessels to continue sailing with black market oil that finances narco-terrorist and illegitimate regimes," she stated, reaffirming the government's commitment to stricter measures to curb chavismo's oil operations.
