Secretary of State Marco Rubio, when asked about the potential U.S. governance of Venezuela following the arrest of President Nicolás Maduro, redirected the conversation towards the enforcement of a U.S. blockade on sanctioned oil tankers. This blockade, declared by President Donald Trump in December, will be utilized as leverage to push for policy changes in Venezuela, Rubio explained during an interview on CBS News’ Face the Nation.
The inception of the blockade occurred on December 16 when Trump proclaimed via his social media platform, Truth Social, that Venezuela was encircled by the “largest armada ever assembled in the History of South America.” Subsequently, he announced a comprehensive blockade on all sanctioned oil tankers entering or exiting Venezuela. This action was taken in response to designating the regime as a “foreign terrorist organization” due to various infractions, including the theft of U.S. assets, terrorism, drug trafficking, and human smuggling.
The sanctioned oil tankers listed by the U.S. Treasury Department, numbering over 30 at the time of Trump’s announcement, are part of a covert fleet of unregistered vessels involved in illicit crude oil transportation to global markets. These vessels obscure their locations by manipulating their automated identification systems, a safety feature meant to prevent collisions, either by going dark or by spoofing their locations to appear elsewhere under false pretenses.
While Trump labeled the action as a blockade, some officials, including Rubio, prefer to term it a “quarantine,” emphasizing its focus on combating unlawful activities rather than a wartime blockade, which carries broader implications. Under international law, a blockade constitutes a hostile act of war, as explained by Andrew Latham, an international relations professor, distinguishing between the common terminology used by Trump and the technical aspect of a quarantine.
Regarding the interception of vessels, only two ships have been seized thus far, with plans to apprehend another sanctioned vessel, the Marinera. Despite efforts to enforce the blockade, several oil tankers under U.S. sanctions have managed to evade detection by concealing their true locations or disabling transmission signals. This evasion poses a challenge to the effectiveness of the blockade, as reported by various sources.
The economic impact of the blockade on Venezuela is substantial, given that oil exports, primarily managed by the state-owned company PDVSA, have been severely disrupted. With exports halted, PDVSA faces the prospect of increased production cuts due to full storage capacities. The continued imposition of the blockade could potentially cripple a significant portion of Venezuela’s oil production, potentially exceeding 70% by the end of the year, according to the New York Times.
