Credit: Credit: Wikipedia Commons /  Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A.   PDVSA  Venezuelan state-owned oil company

By  Gary Raynaldo       DIPLOMATIC  TIMES

The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) Tuesday sanctioned six PDVSA-owned vessels for reportedly being used by the Venezuelan government of Nicholas Maduro to ship oil to Cuba.  The U.S. State Department said the actions “block the efforts by the Cuban and former Maduro regimes to evade sanctions that are intended to prevent the theft of Venezuela’s natural resources for corrupt purposes.”   Additionally, OFAC identified the vessel  ESPERANZA  as blocked property of Caroil Transport Marine Ltd., which was designated on September 24, 2019, pursuant to E.O. 13850 for operating in the oil sector of the Venezuelan economy.  The Esperanza was previously listed as the Nedas on the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List, which was identified as blocked property on April 12, 2019, according to a statement by U.S Treasury Department.

“Cuba and the former Maduro regime continue trying to circumvent sanctions by changing the names of vessels and facilitating the movement of oil from Venezuela to Cuba. The United States will continue to take necessary action to protect the people of Venezuela.”

-Treasury Deputy Secretary Justin Muzinich

The Treasury Department said Tuesday’s action further targets “the former Maduro regime’s corruption in the oil sector and the mechanisms used to transport oil to the Cuban regime in return for security and intelligence assistance, which is one of the  remaining sources of support for the illegitimate former Maduro regime in Venezuela.  It also shows Maduro’s priorities – providing cut-rate crude oil to the Cuban dictatorship, while people in Venezuela go hungry.”

The following vessels are all PdVSA crude oil/products tankers that have recently delivered Venezuelan petroleum products to Cuba:

• Icaro (IMO 9038842)
• Luisa Caceres de Arismendi (IMO 9117578)
• Manuela Saenz (IMO 9117492)
• Paramaconi (IMO 9543512)
• Terepaima (IMO 9552496)
• Yare (IMO 9543500)

SOURCE:  U.S. Treasury Department 

The U.S OFAC also identified other companies transporting oil to Cuba:

• Despina Andrianna is a crude oil tanker (IMO: 9182667) that delivered crude oil from Venezuela to Cuba during February and March of 2019.
• Ballito Bay Shipping Incorporated is based in Monrovia, Liberia, and is the registered owner of the vessel, Despina Andrianna.
• ProPer In Management Incorporated is based in the port city of Piraeus, Athens, Greece, and is the operator of the vessel, Despina Andrianna.

Additionally, OFAC identified the following 34 vessels as blocked property as PdVSA has an interest in such vessels:

• AMAPOLA 1
• AMUAY
• BICENTENARIO I
• BICENTENARIO II
• BICENTENARIO III
• BICENTENARIO IV
• BICENTENARIO V
• BICENTENARIO VI
• BICENTENARIO VII
• BICENTENARIO VIII
• BICENTENARIO IX
• BICENTENARIO X
• BICENTENARIO XI
• BICENTENARIO XII
• BICENTENARIO XIII
• BICENTENARIO XIV
• BICENTENARIO XV
• BICENTENARIO XVI
• CARIBE
• CAYAURIMA
• CUMANAGOTO
• GARDENIA
• GP-21
• GP-23
• JAZMIN
• L-409
• MANAURE
• MARA
• MARGARITA 1
• PDVSA CARDON
• SABANETA
• TRIBILIN
• URDANETA
• YORACO