U.S. intercepts a third oil tanker near Venezuela, according to media

Washington.- U.S. intercepted a third oil tanker in the Caribbean Sea this Sunday, near the coasts of Venezuela, according to U.S. media reports, a day after the seizure of a Panamanian-flagged tanker that, according to Washington, was trafficking "sanctioned crude" within the Venezuelan "ghost fleet."

The ship's status is unknown and it is not yet clear whether it was carrying Venezuelan crude, confirmed a U.S. official cited by CNN. When consulted by EFE, the Pentagon and the Coast Guard referred all questions about the operation to the White House, which has not yet corroborated reports about the ongoing action. This is the second tanker intercepted this weekend under the orders of President Donald Trump, and the third after the intensification of Washington's efforts to cut off the flow of crude oil to the South American country, within the growing pressure that Washington exerts on the government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

Centuries, part of the ghost fleet

The Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, reported this Saturday on the confiscation of the Panamanian-flagged tanker Centuries, which according to the White House, was a vessel with a «false flag» part of «the Venezuelan ghost fleet to traffic stolen oil and finance the narcoterrorist regime of Maduro». The Deputy Spokesperson for the Administration, Anna Kelly, insisted that the ship "was transporting oil from PDVSA, a sanctioned company," in response to reports that the confiscated tanker is not on the U.S. blacklist.

On December 10th, Washington seized the sanctioned vessel Skipper and confiscated the crude oil it was transporting.

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Days later, Trump ordered a total blockade on the entry and exit of this country to oil tankers sanctioned by the US Government, within the pressure exerted on the Maduro Government, which Washington accuses of leading a drug trafficking network. Since August, the U.S. has maintained a large military deployment within an anti-drug campaign in which it has destroyed about 30 alleged boats linked to drug trafficking and killed more than a hundred of their crew members. Meanwhile, Caracas rejected the seizure of the Centuries as a "robbery and kidnapping" by the United States of "a new private ship" that was transporting Venezuelan crude.