The Biden-era far-left narratives collapsed under the weight of facts this week as U.S. forces moved to interdict sanctioned oil shipments tied to Caracas and hostile actors. The operation, which included the seizure of two merchant tankers in the Atlantic and Caribbean, demonstrates that enforcement of sanctions will no longer be mere paperwork and press releases. This is the kind of muscular, practical statecraft Beijing and Moscow understand when they test American resolve.
Officials named vessels such as the Bella 1 and the M Sophia among those taken after years of clandestine shipping that helped Maduro’s kleptocracy and its backers move black-market crude. These ships are not lone exceptions but part of a shadow fleet that has long enabled sanctions-busting by disguising cargoes and changing identities at sea. The seizure follows earlier interdictions of ships like the Skipper and the Centuries, showing a consistent campaign rather than a one-off stunt.
Washington has gone further than just board-and-seize: the administration now intends to hold proceeds from sales of seized Venezuelan crude in U.S.-controlled accounts, a move designed to deny revenue to narco-regimes and their state sponsors. Energy and law enforcement officials say the oil will be monetized under strict U.S. oversight rather than slip into the hands of Iran-aligned networks or corrupt intermediaries. For those who still insist on naive multilateralism, a sober look at PDVSA’s criminal networks shows why unilateral enforcement sometimes becomes necessary.
Predictably, Democratic operatives and media elites have erupted, condemning the operation as reckless and alleging violations of international norms while demanding congressional testimony. That chorus of outrage betrays either a deep ignorance of how sanctions evasion works or a political reflex that puts process above stopping narco-terror funding. Even some Democrats grudgingly admit the man removed from power is a criminal whose networks have enriched themselves at the expense of the Venezuelan people and regional security.
This is a moment for sober patriotism, not performative hand-wringing. Cutting off the cash flows that sustain transnational criminal networks and hostile regimes is not warmongering — it is self-defense, economic statecraft, and a restoration of deterrence in our hemisphere. Leaders who conflate firmness with recklessness are the same ones who shrugged while enemies probed U.S. resolve for years.
Congress should do its job: provide oversight, ensure legal cover where needed, and fund the capabilities that make operations like these possible. Lawmakers who grandstand now should explain whether they prefer a world where sanctioned oil quietly flows to adversaries or one where America enforces its laws and protects its interests. The choice between sterility and strength has consequences, and the administration’s latest moves show that strength, properly guided, still serves the cause of liberty and law.
