▲ The US Coast Guard boarded and confiscated the oil tanker Olina in international waters east of the Caribbean Sea.Photo Afp
AFP, AP and Reuters
La Jornada Newspaper
Saturday, January 10, 2026, p. 5
Washington. The president of the United States, Donald Trump, announced yesterday that the oil tanker Olina“which left Venezuela without their approval”, was seized by the US authorities, in coordination with the Venezuelan authorities, so the ship is “on its way to Venezuela”, and added that the oil will be sold through the “great” energy agreement that was agreed upon with the Bolivarian Republic. Later, Venezuelan authorities confirmed that the operation was joint.
“Today, the United States, in coordination with the provisional authorities of Venezuela, seized an oil tanker that left Venezuela without our approval. This oil tanker returns to Venezuela, and the crude oil will be sold through the large energy agreement that we have created for this type of sales,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
The state-owned company Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) later issued a statement in which it indicated that the ship “sailed without payment or authorization from the Venezuelan authorities” and that it is sailing towards the waters of that country.
The ship was seized early yesterday by the coast guard in international waters of the Caribbean Sea, when “it had left Venezuela trying to elude US forces,” reported the Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem.
“The ghost fleets will not evade justice, they will not hide behind false declarations of nationality,” the official added.
Noem and the Southern Command released images of a helicopter that landed on the ship while US personnel conducted a search on the deck and dropped what appeared to be an explosive device in front of a door on the ship.
He Olinaa 250-meter-long oil tanker flying the flag of East Timor, according to the site MarineTrafficis subject to US sanctions linked to Russia.
Russian, Chinese and Iranian military exercises
Amid growing geopolitical tensions over the White House’s military intervention in Caracas and oil tanker seizures, Chinese, Russian and Iranian warships arrived at a South African naval base for a week of military exercises, Al Jazeera reported.
The Chinese Defense Ministry said in a statement that the exercises, which will begin today with an opening ceremony, are “joint operations to safeguard vital sea routes and economic activities.”
The South African defense force indicated that this act will allow the armies to “exchange best practices and enhance joint operational capabilities, contributing to the security of shipping routes and overall regional maritime stability.”
A South African military spokesman said he could not yet confirm all the countries that would take part in the drills, which run until next Friday, so it was unclear whether other countries in the BRICS group (which also includes Brazil, India and the United Arab Emirates) would take part in the exercises.
According to the Qatari portal, the joint naval exercises of that bloc are expected to further strain ties between Washington and Pretoria, which has been criticized by the Trump administration for what the magnate considers a “genocide” against white farmers in South Africa.
South African Deputy Defense Minister Bantu Holomisa pointed out that the joint military exercises were planned “long before the tensions we are witnessing today.” “Let’s not be alarmed because the United States has a problem with some countries,” “they are not our enemies,” he added.
