Venezuela | What is known about Centuries and Bella 1, the oil tankers seized by the United States in the Caribbean

CNN indicated that when personnel from the Coast Guard attempted to board the ship, the vessel continued sailing, which led to the chase.

“The United States Coast Guard is actively pursuing a sanctioned dark fleet vessel that is part of Venezuela’s illegal sanctions evasion”a second US official told CNN.

USA unwary on saturday the oilman Centuries. Before, on December 10, he did the same with the Skipper.

Bella 1 has a Panamanian flag y is on the sanctions list of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of USA from 2024, for its alleged involvement in the transportation of Iranian crude oil subject to restrictions.

It was built in 2002 and is owned by a company called Louis Marine Shipholding Enterprises.

The naval forces of USA are acting in the Caribbean contra tankers that load Venezuelan crude oil as part of the strategy ordered by the president Donald Trump to apply a “total blockade” of sanctioned tankers entering or leaving Venezuela.

On Sunday, Maduro rated as “private piracy” the confiscation of oil tankers.

In a message on his Telegram channel, he noted that Venezuela “He has spent 25 weeks denouncing, confronting and defeating a campaign of aggression that ranges from psychological terrorism to privateers who have assaulted oil tankers.”

As of November 2025, Venezuela exported around 921,000 barrels of crude oil per dayin what was the third highest average of the year. Between January and October of this year, Sales of crude oil and oil products from Venezuela reached about 12.25 billion dollars. This figure represents a decrease of close to 5% compared to the same period in 2024.

What is known about Centuries?

He Centuries, seized by the United States Coast Guard on December 20 near Barbadosit is registered under Panamanian flag.

He loaded oil on Venezuela under the false nameCrag” and is part of the so-called “ghost fleet”, oil tankers that help the Caribbean country avoid US sanctions to trade crude oil abroad, Reuters reported.

Media such as The New York Times reported that the Centuries is not part of the list of those sanctioned by the US and belongs to a oil company based in China that transfers Venezuelan crude to refineries in the Asian giant.

In response, the White House said Sunday that The Centuries is a “false flag ship” which is part of the “ghost fleet” what does he use Venezuela to “trafficking stolen oil and financing Maduro’s narcoterrorist regime”.

According to official reports and analysis from maritime tracking companies, the Centuries transported approximately 1.8 million barrels of Venezuelan crude oil and iba with destiny to China.

China is precisely the largest destination for Venezuelan crude oil. This country has absorbed between 400,000 and 740,000 barrels per daya figure that in recent months came to represent up to 80% of total Venezuelan oil exports.

The Centuries left Venezuelan waters on Wednesday and was briefly escorted by the Venezuelan Navyaccording to company sources and satellite images obtained by TankerTrackers.com.

Reuters said the crude was bought by Satau Tijana Oil Tradingone of the many intermediaries involved in the sales of PDVSA to independent Chinese refineries.

For its part, TankerTrackers.com reported that of the more than 70 oil tankers that are in Venezuelan waters, and that are part of the ghost fleetsome 38 are under US Treasury sanctions. Of them, at least 15 are loaded with crude oil.

The economy as a weapon

To Andrés Gómez de la Torrea specialist in defense and intelligence issues, with the seizure of oil tankers with Venezuelan crude oil, USA I would be prioritizing a economic pressure and maritime control strategyrather than ordering direct military intervention against the regime Maduro. He warns that Washington has activated a progressive and carefully calibrated scaling.

“Although in recent weeks the option of a direct military operation has been slowed downthis has not been ruled out. The United States combines strategies and adjusts its intensity according to the situation. Today he is testing a economic burden through the oil blockade, but, as Trump said in 2019, all options with Venezuela remain on the table”says Gómez de la Torre to The Commerce.

Regarding a possible reaction of China for the seizure of Centuriesthe analyst emphasizes that Washington does not expect an operational response from Beijing. “Even Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been clear that the United States expects merely declarative support from China in the face of the Venezuelan crisis, not direct involvement”he states.

Regarding a possible scenario of endurance by the intercepted ships, which during part of their journey are accompanied by the Venezuelan Navythe specialist rules out that possibility. “We are talking about commercial oil tankers, without any capacity to resist the air-naval power deployed by the Southern Command in the Caribbean”he claims.

“Maduro’s idea of ​​escorting oil tankers does not make much senseFirst, because there are a large number of ships for a limited Venezuelan Navy without great firepower; and second, Venezuela cannot be equated with the power that the United States has mobilized in the Caribbean. “Caracas would not offer greater resistance,” he adds.

According to the analyst, in recent weeks the United States has woven a growing network of political, diplomatic and military alliances in Latin America and the Caribbean, with the aim of strengthening their capacity to pressure Venezuela without crossing, for now, the threshold of war.

One of the most recent movements, indicates Gómez de la Torre, was the authorization of Dominican Republic for the use of bases and airportsin direct alignment with Washington. The government of Luis Abinader —closely linked to the White House— weeks ago received the US Secretary of War, Pete Hegsethand is already emerging as a key actor in eventual logistical support to the Southern Command.

In parallel, Gómez de la Torre says, the United States expanded its framework of regional action to designate the Colombian Gulf Clan as a terrorist organizationincorporating it into the category of “foreign terrorist organizations.” The measure, explains the specialist, seeks to extend the concept of “narcoterrorism” as the axis of US security policy in the region.

Added to this is the signature of a historic bilateral security agreement between the United States and Paraguaypromoted by Marco Rubio’s State Department. The agreement implies active involvement of Asunción in the fight against drug trafficking and transnational organized crime, under parameters defined by Washington.

Gómez de la Torre comments that another key element has been the replacement in the leadership of the Southern Command. The United States recently appointed General Francis Donovanan Army officer specialized in special operationswhich reinforces the reading of a more surgical strategy and indirect pressure on Venezuela.

In Ecuador, meanwhile, the start of a joint Ecuadorian-American operation at the Manta bases, the port of Manta and Salinas, with a focus on the fight against drug trafficking and narcoterrorism. Added to this regional map is the political rapprochement between Trump and the elected president of ChileJosé Antonio Kast, consolidating a diplomatic alignment in the Southern Cone, notes Gómez de la Torre.

“We are talking about a series of combined mechanisms. The United States continues to test and adjust different forms of pressure under a concept of slow and progressive escalation over Venezuela”, says the specialist. In that area, the interdiction of oil tankers appears as one of the most visible tools of this phase, by raising the intensity of the maritime control off the Venezuelan coast.