The crude oil tanker Skipper was recently seized by the US off the coast of Venezuela, approximately 33 kilometers north of Guadeloupe, in the southern Caribbean Sea, on December 12, 2025. VANTOR VIA AP
The United States announced on Tuesday, January 20, that its forces seized another tanker in the Caribbean, the seventh ship apprehended since President Donald Trump announced a blockade to prevent sanctioned vessels going to or from Venezuela.
The US military's Southern Command said the ship, identified as the Motor Vessel Sagitta, was "operating in defiance of President Trump's established quarantine of sanctioned vessels" and was seized "without incident."
"The only oil leaving Venezuela will be oil that is coordinated properly and lawfully," the command said in a post on X that included a clip showing an overhead view of a ship at sea.
Among the seven ships seized since the US president announced the blockade in December was a Russia-linked tanker apprehended in the North Atlantic earlier this month after being pursued by the US from off the coast of Venezuela.
