El Comando Sur de EE. UU. informó el viernes que había incautado otro buque , el Olina, en el Mar Caribe. La operación fue realizada por marines y personal de la Guardia Costera estadounidense, que despegó del portaaviones USS Gerald R. Ford.

La secretaria de Seguridad Nacional, Kristi L. Noem, escribió en las redes sociales que el barco era “sospechoso de transportar petróleo embargado” y había intentado “evadir a las fuerzas estadounidenses” al salir de Venezuela.

No todas las embarcaciones abordadas o incautadas se encuentran en condiciones adecuadas para ser aceptadas en instalaciones estadounidenses, por lo que la Guardia Costera está reforzando sus equipos de inspección y reparación. «Estas embarcaciones son apátridas y están por debajo de los estándares», declaró la Guardia Costera en su mensaje interno para buscar candidatos para la misión en rápida expansión.

El presidente Donald Trump, en una publicación en las redes sociales reconociendo la operación militar del viernes, dijo que Olina estaba "en camino de regreso a Venezuela" y que su petróleo se venderá "a través del GRAN Acuerdo Energético, que hemos creado para tales ventas".

In the days since U.S. forces swooped into Caracas and captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, the Trump administration has indicated that the U.S. will be controlling all aspects of Venezuela’s oil industry, to include selling its oil. The U.S. also is continuing to aggressively enforce a naval blockade of Venezuela, in part to force its interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, to cooperate with the administration’s demands.

Since Trump announced the blockade in mid-December, the Coast Guard has taken at least four vessels into custody. The first, the oil tanker Skipper, continues to be held offshore near the Port of Galveston in Texas. Two other tankers — the Bella-1, which U.S. forces boarded in the North Atlantic after a weeks-long pursuit, and the Sophia, which was targeted in the Caribbean — were seized Wednesday.

The Bella-1, which was hastily renamed and reflagged to seek Russian protection as U.S. forces gave pursuit, was part of a “ghost fleet” of ships that operate under false paperwork or false flags — often not disclosing their locations — and move oil that is under sanction to markets in China or elsewhere. The U.S. government has alleged that such oil sales fund narco-terrorism, which it cited as justification for the seizure made Wednesday.

There are hundreds of such vessels, and often they are in terrible shape, said Mark Cancian, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. They’re likely to be declined entry into a U.S. port if they don’t meet its safety standards or there’s risk of a spill, he said.

“They tend to be at the end of their service life — old, in poor condition,” Cancian said.

The Coast Guard request reviewed by The Post says it is anticipating “an influx” of these vessels and is looking for personnel who could “identify and rectify the highest risk deficiencies” on the ships before handing them off to the ports that will house them.

Separately Friday, the U.S. took halting first steps toward a resumption of diplomatic operations in Venezuela, with diplomatic and security staff from the United States’ Venezuela Affairs Unit — including interim chargé d’affaires John McNamara — traveling to Caracas, according to a U.S. official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel movements in a fluid security environment.

John Hudson contributed to this report.