WASHINGTON — U.S. military forces intercepted and boarded an oil tanker off Venezuela’s coast early Saturday, marking the second such seizure in less than two weeks as President Donald Trump escalates pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
The pre-dawn operation involved Coast Guard personnel and Defense Department assets stopping the Panama-flagged vessel Centuries, which had last docked in Venezuela. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem posted unclassified video on social media showing a U.S. helicopter landing personnel on the tanker’s deck.
“The United States will continue to pursue the illicit movement of sanctioned oil that is used to fund narco terrorism in the region,” Noem wrote on X. “We will find you, and we will stop you.”
The boarding was consensual, with the tanker stopping voluntarily and allowing U.S. forces aboard, a U.S. official said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the operation publicly. Whether the vessel faced U.S. sanctions remained unclear Saturday.
The Pentagon and White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Venezuela Denounces Action as ‘Criminal’
Venezuela’s government issued a sharp rebuke Saturday, characterizing the U.S. military action as theft and vowing legal retaliation through multiple channels, including complaints to the United Nations Security Council.
“The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela categorically denounces and rejects the theft and hijacking of another private vessel transporting Venezuelan oil, as well as the enforced disappearance of its crew, perpetrated by United States military personnel in international waters,” the government statement said.
Maduro has maintained that U.S. military operations in the region aim to force him from power rather than combat drug trafficking as Washington claims.
Blockade Follows Earlier Seizure
The Saturday action came days after Trump announced a total blockade of sanctioned oil tankers traveling to and from Venezuela. U.S. forces seized the tanker Skipper off Venezuela’s coast on Dec. 10, an unusual operation that preceded Trump’s blockade declaration.
Trump has intensified his rhetoric toward Maduro in recent weeks, warning the longtime Venezuelan leader that his days in power are numbered. Earlier this week, the president demanded Venezuela return assets seized from U.S. oil companies years ago, citing those losses to justify the maritime blockade.
“We’re not going to be letting anybody going through who shouldn’t be going through,” Trump told reporters. “You remember they took all of our energy rights. They took all of our oil not that long ago. And we want it back. They took it — they illegally took it.”
Some sanctioned tankers have already begun diverting away from Venezuelan ports.
Oil Disputes Date to Nationalization
U.S. oil companies dominated Venezuela’s petroleum industry until the country nationalized the sector—first in the 1970s and again under Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Chávez. Venezuela’s compensation offers were deemed insufficient, and in 2014, an international arbitration panel ordered the socialist government to pay ExxonMobil $1.6 billion.
Venezuela possesses the world’s largest proven oil reserves and produces roughly 1 million barrels daily. Since the Trump administration imposed oil sanctions in 2017, Maduro’s government has relied on a shadowy fleet of unflagged tankers to smuggle crude into global supply chains.
The state-owned oil company PDVSA, locked out of global markets by U.S. sanctions, sells most exports at steep discounts on China’s black market. Francisco Monaldi, a Venezuelan oil expert at Rice University, estimates that of the nation’s 850,000 barrels in daily exports, 80% goes to China, 15% to 17% reaches the U.S. through Chevron Corp., and the remainder goes to Cuba.
Military Buildup Accompanies Naval Operations
The tanker seizures coincide with Trump’s orders for Defense Department strikes on vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific that his administration claims smuggle fentanyl and other drugs into the United States.
At least 104 people have died in 28 known strikes since early September, drawing scrutiny from lawmakers and human rights activists who say the administration has provided insufficient evidence that targets are drug smugglers. Critics characterize the fatal strikes as extrajudicial killings.
The Coast Guard, sometimes with Navy assistance, traditionally interdicted suspected drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean, searched for illicit cargo, and arrested crew members for prosecution—not destroyed vessels at sea.
The administration defends the strikes as necessary responses to what it characterizes as “armed conflict” with drug cartels. Maduro faces federal narcoterrorism charges in the United States.
The U.S. has deployed a fleet of warships to the region—the largest military buildup in generations. Trump has stated repeatedly that land attacks are imminent.
White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles told Vanity Fair this week that Trump “wants to keep on blowing boats up until Maduro cries uncle.”
Blockade Details Remain Unclear
Trump announced the blockade Tuesday night on his social media platform, alleging Venezuela uses oil revenue to fund drug trafficking and other crimes.
“Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America,” Trump wrote. “It will only get bigger, and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before — Until such time as they return to the United States of America all of the Oil, Land, and other Assets that they previously stole from us.”
Venezuela’s government released a statement accusing Trump of “violating international law, free trade, and the principle of free navigation” with “a reckless and grave threat.”
“On his social media, he assumes that Venezuela’s oil, land, and mineral wealth are his property,” the Venezuelan statement said. “Consequently, he demands that Venezuela immediately hand over all its riches.”
How the U.S. plans to enforce what Trump called a “TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE” remained unclear, though the Navy has 11 ships in the region, including an aircraft carrier and several amphibious assault ships carrying helicopters and V-22 Ospreys. The Navy also operates P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft in the area, providing significant capability to monitor marine traffic.
Terrorist Designation Questions
Trump claimed in his post that “the Venezuelan Regime has been designated a FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION,” though the reference remained unclear.
The foreign terrorist organization designation historically has been reserved for non-state actors without sovereign immunities conferred by treaties or United Nations membership. Governments that U.S. administrations seek to sanction for financing or tolerating extremist violence typically receive “state sponsor of terrorism” designations—a list that does not include Venezuela.
In November, the Trump administration designated the Cartel de los Soles as a foreign terrorist organization. The term originally referred to Venezuelan military officers involved in drug trafficking but does not represent a cartel in the traditional sense.
In rare instances, the U.S. has designated government elements as foreign terrorist organizations. The Trump administration’s first term applied such designation to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, an arm of the Iranian government already designated a state sponsor of terrorism.
In October, Trump appeared to confirm that Maduro has offered stakes in Venezuela’s oil and mineral wealth to relieve mounting U.S. pressure.
“He’s offered everything,” Trump said at the time. “You know why? Because he doesn’t want to f— around with the United States.”
The Associated Press story
