The United States has seized another Venezuela-linked oil tanker in the Caribbean, marking the sixth such interception since mid-December as Washington intensifies control over Venezuelan oil exports.
U.S. officials said the pre-dawn operation occurred without incident and came just ahead of a meeting between President Donald Trump and Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado.
The action reflects a widening enforcement campaign tied to broader political and economic measures following the removal of President Nicolás Maduro earlier this month.
The U.S. military’s Southern Command confirmed that American forces apprehended the Motor/Tanker Veronica while it was operating in what officials described as defiance of a presidential quarantine on sanctioned vessels.
“The only oil leaving Venezuela will be oil that is coordinated properly and lawfully,” Southern Command said in a statement.
The Aframax tanker, sailing under a Guyana flag, had departed Venezuelan waters empty in early January and had not returned, according to shipping documents and monitoring services.
Officials said the seizure took place in the Caribbean Sea and was conducted as part of ongoing maritime operations targeting vessels linked to Venezuelan oil trade.
Many of the intercepted ships have been under U.S. sanctions or identified as part of a shadow fleet used to obscure the origin of oil shipments.
The tanker seizures form part of a broader U.S. campaign that began during Trump’s effort to force Maduro from power and culminated in U.S. forces detaining the former president and his wife on January 3.
Since then, Trump has said the United States plans to control Venezuela’s oil resources indefinitely while pursuing a $100 billion effort to rebuild the country’s oil industry.
Washington has also moved to consolidate oversight of oil flows, filing court warrants to seize dozens more tankers connected to Venezuelan exports.
Last week, U.S. forces seized a Russian-flagged tanker that had been tracked across the Atlantic and shadowed by a Russian submarine, prompting condemnation from Moscow.
The latest seizure coincided with Trump’s first face-to-face meeting with Machado since Maduro’s removal, though Trump has previously ruled out installing her as Venezuela’s leader, citing limited domestic support.
A classified CIA assessment presented to Trump concluded that figures aligned with the previous government were best positioned to maintain stability.