According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the United States recently seized an oil tanker departing from Venezuela.
This is the second time this month that the United States has seized an oil tanker off its coast.
The move comes after U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he had ordered a “blockade” of sanctioned oil tankers traveling to and from Venezuela.
Venezuela has yet to respond to the latest U.S. seizure, but has previously accused the U.S. of trying to steal its oil resources.
This operation, similar to the operation earlier this month, was led by the U.S. Coast Guard. The vessel was boarded by a specialist tactical team and was in international waters when it was captured.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who oversees the Coast Guard, shared video of the operation from X.
“In a pre-dawn operation in the early morning hours of December 20, the U.S. Coast Guard, with support from the War Department, apprehended the last oil tanker docked in Venezuela,” Noem wrote.
She posted a seven-minute video of the operation showing an American helicopter landing on the deck of a ship with the name Centuries written on the side.
“The United States will continue to track the illicit movement of sanctioned oil used to finance narco-terrorism in the region,” Noem said, adding, “We will find you and we will stop you.”
The Centuries is a Panamanian-flagged vessel, but records verified by BBC show it has also sailed under the flags of Greece and Liberia for the past five years.
This vessel is not on the U.S. Treasury Department’s list of sanctioned vessels.
In recent weeks, the United States has been increasing its military presence in the Caribbean and has attacked suspected Venezuelan drug-smuggling vessels, killing about 100 people.
The United States has provided no public evidence that the ships were carrying drugs, and the military has faced increasing scrutiny from Congress over the raids.
The United States has accused Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro of leading a designated terrorist organization called Cartel de los Soles, an accusation that President Maduro has denied.
The Trump administration accused him and the group of using “stolen” oil to “finance, narcoterrorism, human trafficking, murder and kidnapping.”
After seizing the second vessel, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth posted to
“Violence, drugs and chaos will not control the Western Hemisphere.”
Venezuela, which has the world’s largest proven oil reserves, relies heavily on oil export revenues to finance government spending.
President Trump’s ‘blockade’ announcement comes less than a week after the United States seized an oil tanker believed to be part of a ‘ghost fleet’ off the coast of Venezuela, which is said to have used a variety of tactics to cover up its activities.
The White House said the vessel in question, called the Captain, was involved in “illicit oil transport” and would be transferred to a U.S. port.
The Venezuelan government condemned the move, and Maduro said the United States kidnapped the crew and stole the ship.
