The U.S. is chasing an oil tanker that refused to let members of the Coast Guard aboard in the Caribbean Sea on Saturday, Dec. 20. The move comes asPresident Donald Trumpvows a "total and complete blockade" on oil tankers coming and going from Venezuela totighten the economic screwson President Nicolás Maduro.
The Bella 1, a Panama-flagged oil tanker under U.S. sanctions, is the third vessel that theTrump administration has attemptedto seize off the coast of Venezuela.
"The United States Coast Guard is in active pursuit of a sanctioned dark fleet vessel that is part of Venezuela's illegal sanctions evasion. It is flying a false flag and under a judicial seizure order," the White House said in a statement.
The Bella 1 was approaching Venezuela with no cargo yet onboard when the U.S. attempted to make the arrest, according toThe New York Timesandmaritime trackers. Hours later, it began sending out repeated distress signals to nearby vessels, according todata sharedon X.
See President Trump speak from the White House in primetime
Some oil tankers bound for Venezuela have alreadymade U-turnsmid-route since the U.S. seized the first vessel on Dec. 10, Reuters reported. For Venezuela, where the economy relies heavily on oil exports, the U.S. blockade could have punishing economic consequences.
Here's a closer look at what is happening off the coast of Venezuela as the Trump administration ups the pressure on Maduro.
How does the US have the power to sanction ships?
The Treasury Department issues sanctions, which are economic penalties applied to countries, groups or individuals. Individuals facing sanctions could be blocked from accessing their financial assets.
Two of the ships that the U.S. has moved to seize off Venezuela's coast were part of what the Treasury Department calls the "shadow fleet," which uses false identifying information or location signals to evade sanctions.
In late November, Trump designated Cartel de los Soles, which he says is headed by Maduro, a foreign terrorist organization. This designation means the U.S. can levy heavy financial sanctions against the group. He also designated other drug cartels, including Tren de Aragua, as foreign terrorist organizations, or FTOs.
It is not yet clear if the Trump administration intends to seize any vessels that have a connection to Cartel de los Soles – and presumably by extension to Maduro's regime.
Were the oil tankers sanctioned?
Two of the three tankers that the U.S. has moved to seize were sanctioned for their role in Iran's oil trade.
The U.S. had previously slapped sanctions on the Bella 1 in 2024 for carrying Iranian oil, the proceeds of which were used to fund Iran-linked terrorist groups, according to theTreasury Department.
The first tankerseized on Dec. 10 was the Skipper, which was carrying oil north to Cuba. Guyana, a South American country east of Venezuela, said that the Skipper was falsely flying its flag.
The Skipper was also under sanctions for its role in an "oil shipping network" supporting Hezbollah and Iran's military, according to the Justice Department, which said amagistrate judge signeda warrant greenlighting the seizure in late November. The Skipper has been taken to a port in Texas, and the Trump administration will seize the oil on board, according tonews reports.
Hours before it tried to stop the Bella 1 on Saturday, Dec. 20, the U.S. interdictedanother Panama-flaggedtanker named the Centuries.
But the Centuries,which was carryingaround 1.8 million barrels of oil to China when the U.S. seized it early Saturday, was not under U.S. sanctions.
The move has ignited the ire of China, a major buyer of Venezuelan oil. China's foreign ministry on Dec. 22called the seizuresa violation of international law, and officials in Venezuela said they amount to a "serious act of international piracy."
What is the purpose of a blockade on Venezuelan oil exports?
The Trump administration's blockade is an attempt to "starve the Venezuelan government of resources," said Francisco Rodríguez, a senior research fellow at the Center for Economic and Policy Research.
With oil constituting some 90% of Venezuela's exports and more than half of its fiscal revenue, the Trump administration's blockade could have "very strong repercussions" on the Venezuelan economy, said Rodríguez, also a faculty affiliate at the University of Denver.
"This is an economy that essentially exports only oil," Rodríguez said. "The economy will very likely suffer a deep recession."
The blockade could cause unemployment and inflation to skyrocket and create an increase in malnutrition and poverty, "possibly to levels not seen before," he said. Those conditions could provoke a "massive exodus" of people from the country, he said.
Trump has previouslyslammed Venezuela over migrationand said the country "emptied" its prisons into the U.S.
What else has Trump done to push out Maduro?
The oil tanker seizures are part of an escalating campaign by the Trump administration to oust Maduro, a longtime foe of Trump and, even more so, of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has taken aleading role in the effort.
For months, the U.S. hasdeployed a growing contingentof elite military assets to the region, including B-52 bombers, the world's largest aircraft carrier, guided missile destroyers and a special operations ship. Around 12,000 troops are deployed alongside them.
The Trump administration previously attributed its attempts to push Maduro out of power to his central role in a drug trafficking network known as Cartel de los Soles. Thataccusation has been widely disputedby experts and researchers, who say Cartel de los Soles is a loose corruption network, and that no more than a small fraction of drugs in the U.S. originate in Venezuela.
The U.S. is concurrently carrying out anongoing campaign of deadly attackson boats in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific that it claims, without evidence, carry drugs. More than a hundred people have died in these extrajudicial strikes, which have been decried by legal and military experts as illegal.
How has Trump's approach to Venezuela evolved?
As the new campaign to interdict oil tankers and seize their cargo takes shape, Trump has leveled new accusations against Maduro and Venezuela.
The U.S. will not let up on Venezuela "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," he wrote in the Truth Socialpostannouncing the blockade.
Venezuela's oil reserves – around300 billionbarrels – is the largest in the world. Oil production in the country is run by Petróleos de Venezuela S.A., or PDVSA, a state-owned company.
The only U.S. company currently operating in Venezuela is Chevron, which runs a joint venture with PDVSA. Amid the U.S. seizures of oil tankers, Chevron iscontinuing its operations.
The Trump administrationrevokedChevron's license to operate in the country in February, then reversed course in July and granted it anew license– the terms of which were not made public.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:US chases another oil tanker as Trump ramps up Venezuela oil blockade
