Coast Guard is pursuing another tanker helping Venezuela skirt
sanctions, US official says
[December 22, 2025]
By AAMER MADHANI
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — The U.S. Coast Guard on Sunday was pursuing
another sanctioned oil tanker in the Caribbean Sea as the Trump
administration appeared to be intensifying its targeting of such vessels
connected to the Venezuelan government.
The pursuit of the tanker, which was confirmed by a U.S. official
briefed on the operation, comes after the U.S. administration announced
Saturday it had seized a tanker for the second time in less than two
weeks.
The official, who was not authorized to comment publicly about the
ongoing operation and spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Sunday's
pursuit involved “a sanctioned dark fleet vessel that is part of
Venezuela’s illegal sanctions evasion.”
The official said the vessel was flying a false flag and under a
judicial seizure order.
The Pentagon and Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the
U.S. Coast Guard, deferred questions about the operation to the White
House, which did not offer comment on the operation.
Saturday’s predawn seizure of a Panama-flagged vessel called Centuries
targeted what the White House described as a “falsely flagged vessel
operating as part of the Venezuelan shadow fleet to traffic stolen oil.”
The Coast Guard, with assistance from the Navy, seized a sanctioned
tanker called Skipper on Dec. 10, another part of the shadow fleet of
tankers that the U.S. says operates on the fringes of the law to move
sanctioned cargo. It was not even flying a nation’s flag when it was
seized by the Coast Guard.
President Donald Trump, after that first seizure, said that the U.S.
would carry out a “blockade” of Venezuela. It all comes as Trump has
ratcheted up his rhetoric toward Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
This past week Trump demanded that Venezuela return assets that it
seized from U.S. oil companies years ago, justifying anew his
announcement of a “blockade” against oil tankers traveling to or from
the South American country that face American sanctions.
Trump cited the lost U.S. investments in Venezuela when asked about his
newest tactic in a pressure campaign against Maduro, suggesting the
Republican administration’s moves are at least somewhat motivated by
disputes over oil investments, along with accusations of drug
trafficking. Some sanctioned tankers already are diverting away from
Venezuela.
U.S. oil companies dominated Venezuela’s petroleum industry until the
country’s leaders moved to nationalize the sector, first in the 1970s
and again in the 21st century under Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo
Chávez. Compensation offered by Venezuela was deemed insufficient, and
in 2014, an international arbitration panel ordered the country’s
socialist government to pay $1.6 billion to ExxonMobil.
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President Donald Trump holds a cell phone with a call to Nvidia CEO
Jensen Huang as he departs on Air Force One at Rocky Mount-Wilson
Regional Airport, Friday, Dec. 19, 2025, in Elm City, N.C. (AP
Photo/Alex Brandon)
Maduro said in a message Sunday on Telegram that Venezuela has spent
months “denouncing, challenging and defeating a campaign of
aggression that goes from psychological terrorism to corsairs
attacking oil tankers.”
He added: “We are ready to accelerate the pace of our deep
revolution!”
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who has been critical of Trump's Venezuela
policy, called the tanker seizures a “provocation and a prelude to
war.”
“Look, at any point in time, there are 20, 30 governments around the
world that we don’t like that are either socialist or communist or
have human rights violations,” Paul said on ABC's' “This Week." ”But
it isn’t the job of the American soldier to be the policeman of the
world."
The targeting of tankers comes as Trump has ordered the Defense
Department to carry out a series of attacks on vessels in the
Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean that his administration alleges
are smuggling fentanyl and other illegal drugs into the United
States and beyond.
At least 104 people have been killed in 28 known strikes since early
September. The strikes have faced scrutiny from U.S. lawmakers and
human rights activists, who say the administration has offered scant
evidence that its targets are indeed drug smugglers and that the
fatal strikes amount to extrajudicial killings.
Trump has repeatedly said Maduro's days in power are numbered. White
House chief of staff Susie Wiles said in an interview with Vanity
Fair published last week that Trump “wants to keep on blowing boats
up until Maduro cries uncle.”
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., told NBC's “Meet the Press” on Sunday that
Trump's use of military to mount pressure on Maduro runs contrary to
Trump's pledge to keep the United States out of unnecessary wars.
Democrats have been pressing Trump to seek congressional
authorization for the military action in the Caribbean.
“We should be using sanctions and other tools at our disposal to
punish this dictator who is violating the human rights of his
civilians and has run the Venezuelan economy into the ground,” Kaine
said. "But I’ll tell you, we should not be waging war against
Venezuela. We definitely should not be waging war without a vote of
Congress.
___
Associated Press writer Mauricio Savarese in Sao Paulo, Brazil,
contributed to this report.
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