By Mark Tanos, Daily Caller News Foundation | January 09, 2026
The U.S. military seized a fifth tanker in the Caribbean Sea on Friday as Washington intensifies its campaign to block Venezuelan oil exports.
Marines and sailors from Joint Task Force Southern Spear launched from the USS Gerald R. Ford in a pre-dawn operation and apprehended the Olina without incident, U.S. Southern Command announced on X. The Department of Homeland Security coordinated the seizure.
The operation received support from the Navy’s Amphibious Ready Group, including the USS Iwo Jima, USS San Antonio and USS Fort Lauderdale, according to the command’s statement.
“Once again, our joint interagency forces sent a clear message this morning: ‘there is no safe haven for criminals,'” U.S. Southern Command said.
The Olina was falsely flying the flag of Timor-Leste and had departed Venezuela last week fully loaded with oil as part of a flotilla, Reuters reported, citing an industry source. The vessel’s location tracker had been inactive for 52 days in Venezuela’s exclusive economic zone northeast of Curaçao, according to British maritime risk management company Vanguard.
Washington sanctioned the tanker in January 2024 when it operated under the name Minerva M.
Three other vessels from the same flotilla returned to Venezuelan waters on Thursday, while seven more tankers were scheduled to return Friday and Saturday, Reuters reported. Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA owns all the oil aboard these 10 vessels, according to the industry source.
“The U.S. blockade of sanctioned Venezuelan oil remains in full effect anywhere in the world,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Wednesday, according to Reuters.
The tanker “had departed Venezuela attempting to evade U.S. forces,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said in a post on X. Noem described the Olina as another “ghost fleet” tanker suspected of carrying embargoed oil.
The Daily Caller previously reported on the seizure of the Sophia earlier this week and the Bella 1 in the North Atlantic on Wednesday.
Mark Tanos is a contributor at the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Original article link
