United States carried out a maritime operation for more than two weeks to seize an oil tanker associated with the Venezuelan regime that was sailing under a changed identity and Russian flag. The vessel, originally christened Bella-1 and later renamed Marinera, repeatedly evaded attempts by the U.S. Coast Guard to board it, even though it was under sanctions.
U.S. officials confirmed that, at the time of the operation, Russian military vessels —including a submarine— were in the vicinity, which raised tensions in the area and revealed the growing Russian deployment in support of the Venezuelan oil network.
An evasion network: spoofing, identity changes, and unauthorized departures
Marinera's maneuver was not an isolated case. In recent days, at least 16 sanctioned oil tankers appeared to be attempting to evade the U.S. blockade, switching off their AIS signals, falsifying their locations, and operating under adulterated names. Of those 16 ships, only four were detected by satellite sailing east about 50 kilometers (31 miles) off the Venezuelan coast; the other 12 remain completely off the radar.
The departures took place after satellites showed the vessels moored for weeks in Venezuelan ports. But on Saturday, after Nicolás Maduro's capture by U.S. forces, they simultaneously disappeared from their usual positions, a move interpreted as a direct challenge to the control of the provisional government headed by Delcy Rodríguez.
Internal PDVSA documents and industry sources confirm that several of those vessels set sail without official authorization and were chartered by oil traders Alex Saab and Ramón Carretero, both sanctioned by Washington. Saab, detained in the United States in 2021 and later exchanged in 2023, is still considered a key figure in opaque trading networks of Venezuelan oil.
