The US coastguard stepped up its enforcement of a blockade on Venezuelan oil on Sunday by trying to board a sanctioned tanker in the Caribbean.
The coastguard was pursuing the tanker Bella 1, a sanctioned and unregulated vessel en route to Venezuela to load a cargo of oil, according to a US official. The operation followed the boarding of Centuries, a Panamanian ship, in a pre-dawn raid on Saturday and the seizure of Skipper near Venezuela on December 10.
“The United States Coast Guard is in active pursuit of a sanctioned dark fleet vessel that is part of Venezuela’s illegal sanctions evasion,” the official said. “It is flying a false flag and under a judicial seizure order.”