US seizes sanctioned oil tanker in the Caribbean
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The news: The US has seized another sanctioned oil tanker in the Caribbean Sea, US Southern Command confirmed on Friday.
The context: The Olina oil tanker is reportedly the fifth vessel linked to Venezuela to be captured by US forces in recent weeks, as the Trump administration continues its efforts to control exports of the country’s oil following its seizure of President Nicolás Maduro.
The ship was reportedly bearing an East Timor flag and the last time it transmitted its position was in mid-November near the coast of Venezuela, according to global ship-tracking service Marine Traffic, which added that Olina was sailing under a false flag.
In a statement published Friday, the US military's Southern Command said: “Once again, our joint interagency forces sent a clear message this morning: ‘there is no safe haven for criminals.’”
It explained that US troops in coordination with the Department of Homeland Security, launched from the USS Gerald R. Ford and apprehended Motor/Tanker Olina in the Caribbean Sea without incident in a before-dawn operation.
“The Department of War’s Operation Southern Spear is unwavering in its mission to defend our homeland by ending illicit activity and restoring security in the Western Hemisphere”, the statement concluded.
US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote on X that the vessel was “another ‘ghost fleet’ tanker ship suspected of carrying embargoed oil, this vessel had departed Venezuela attempting to evade US forces.”
Earlier this week US authorities seized the ‘Marinera’ oil tanker in the North Atlantic, after it that had fled the US blockade of sanctioned vessels near Venezuela.
