US Troops Seize Another Oil Tanker in Caribbean

The oil tanker, named Veronica, is the sixth that U.S. forces have boarded and seized since Dec. 10.

U.S. military personnel lower from a helicopter onto the tanker Veronica during a boarding and seizure operation in the Caribbean Sea on Jan. 15, 2026. U.S. Southern Command/Screenshot

U.S. Marines and Navy sailors boarded and seized another oil tanker in the Caribbean Sea on Jan. 15 as part of an ongoing blockade of oil tankers sailing to and from Venezuela.

“In another pre-dawn action, Marines and Sailors from Joint Task Force Southern Spear, in support of the Department of Homeland Security, launched from USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) and apprehended Motor/Tanker Veronica without incident,” the U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) said in a Jan. 15 statement.

SOUTHCOM described the tanker as the latest sanctioned vessel to attempt to breach President Donald Trump’s “established quarantine.”

The U.S. military command, which oversees operations in and around Latin America and the Caribbean, shared video footage purporting to show U.S. troops lowering down onto the tanker from helicopters.

This seizure operation occurred just hours before Trump was set to host Venezuelan opposition figure and Nobel Prize laureate María Corina Machado at the White House.

Veronica is the sixth oil tanker that U.S. forces have boarded and seized since Dec. 10.

U.S. forces seized the tanker Skipper on Dec. 10 and the motor tanker Centuries on Dec. 20.

This tanker blockade began as part of a broader pressure campaign against former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro. The blockade has continued even after U.S. forces captured Maduro on Jan. 3 and flew him back to the United States to face federal criminal charges related to drug trafficking. Maduro denies the charges.

Since Maduro’s capture, U.S. forces have also seized the tankers Bella 1, Sophia, and Olina.

Trump has signaled a willingness to work with Maduro’s deputy and political ally, Delcy Rodríguez, during a transitional phase. Trump’s plan for this transitional period includes transfers of Venezuelan oil to the United States.

“The only oil leaving Venezuela will be oil that is coordinated properly and lawfully,” SOUTHCOM said.

SOUTHCOM said it conducted this latest seizure operation with support from the amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima, as well as the amphibious transport docks USS San Antonio and USS Fort Lauderdale. The U.S. military conducted the seizure operation in coordination with the U.S. Coast Guard, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of Justice.

Publicly available ship data shared by MarineTraffic show a vessel named Veronica that matches the description of the vessel seized on Jan. 14. Records for the tanker indicate that it was flagged to Guyana.

The operators of the Veronica had claimed the Russian flag and the new name Galileo shortly before the U.S. boarding operation.

Operators of the Bella 1 had also reflagged under a Russian registry and adopted the name Marinera as they evaded capture by U.S. forces for nearly three weeks.

The Russian Foreign Ministry criticized the U.S. seizure of the Bella 1. In a statement, the foreign ministry said the tanker lawfully, if temporarily, claimed Russian status and that “no state has the right to use force against vessels duly registered under the jurisdiction of other states.”