The US has ramped up pressure on Venezuela by ordering a "total and complete blockade" of all sanctioned oil tankers going into and out of the country. President Donald Trump announced this move on 16 December via his Truth Social account, signaling a tough stance against Venezuela's oil exports. Venezuela depends heavily on oil export revenues from its state-run company PDVSA. However, US sanctions have made it difficult for Venezuelan oil to reach the market since 2019, causing exports to drop from about 1.1 million barrels per day to just 495,000 barrels in late 2019. Despite these sanctions, Venezuela's oil exports bounced back to approximately 920,000 barrels per day by November, showing that the government has found clever ways to continue selling oil. Central to these efforts is a fleet of "ghost ships"—vessels that evade detection by frequently changing their names, flags, and using other deceptive tactics. These ghost fleets operate by disguising the origin of the oil, transferring cargo between ships on the high seas, and sometimes turning off tracking systems that show their location. A striking example is the tanker called The Skipper, previously known as Adisa and Toyo. This 20-year-old vessel is sanctioned and linked to smuggling networks supporting Iranian and Lebanese groups. Some ghost ships are "zombie ships" that steal the identities of scrapped vessels to hide their true nature. For instance, the ship Varada, sailing a fake flag and identity, was traced from Venezuela to Malaysia. Ghost fleets are not unique to Venezuela. Countries like Russia and Iran also use such tactics to bypass Western sanctions. An intelligence firm states that about 20% of oil tankers worldwide smuggle oil from sanctioned nations. A report from Transparencia Venezuela found 71 foreign tankers at Venezuelan PDVSA ports, including 15 under sanctions and nine part of ghost fleets. Many ships avoid docking in official terminals and deactivate their location signals, raising suspicion. The US Navy's seizure of a sanctioned tanker in early December after deploying the USS Gerald Ford aircraft carrier signals a more forceful effort to cut off these ghost ships. This move could severely limit Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro's ability to use this fleet to sustain oil revenues amid sanctions.