The Coast Guard boarded the Grace in the Caribbean in early September and had Mexico's Navy inspect it in Progreso, but only announced it a month later.

This article by Jim Cason and David Brooks originally appeared in the October 2, 2026 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier left wing daily newspaper.

Washington and New York. The United States Coast Guard confirmed yesterday that in early September it intercepted, boarded and took control of a vessel in international waters, which, it alleges, was carrying oil to Cuba, and afterward escorted it to Puerto Progreso, Mexico, where an inspection by the Secretariat of the Navy (Semar) confirmed that the ship was loaded with “large quantities” of fuel.

“Coast Guard interdicts Motor Vessel Grace, continues operations to interdict illicit fuel shipments to Cuba,” reads the headline of a press release issued yesterday by the military branch. “In early September, a Coast Guard tactical team boarded Grace in the Caribbean Sea. Grace was transiting to Cuba, carrying fuel, and appeared to employ tactics common among the dark fleet,” it added.

“The high seas are no sanctuary for illegality,” said Admiral Kevin Lunday, commandant of the Coast Guard. “Dark fleet actors who employ deceptive tactics to carry out illicit activities will not evade justice. The Coast Guard is employing every capability to interdict these ships and enforce international law.”

As of this edition’s closing, Coast Guard spokespeople had not responded to specific questions from La Jornada about what legal authority the US government was using, under national or global law, to intercept a ship in international waters.

The press release adds that “after boarding, the Coast Guard escorted Grace to Progreso, Mexico, where a Mexican Navy inspection team confirmed the presence of large quantities of fuel in the vessel’s ballast tanks.”

It reports that “the ship was also carrying several containers of what is believed to be illicit fuel.”

The vessel tracking website VesselFinder, consulted by La Jornada, identifies Grace as a 100-meter-long container ship sailing under the flag of the Comoros Islands, a country on the eastern coast of Africa. Another search on the MagicPort website confirmed that the ship is currently in Puerto Progreso and suggests that the owner is Arkon Capital Ltd, registered in Riga, Latvia.

Second Cargo Ship Detained This Year

Apparently, this type of capture was not the first. The Coast Guard press release added that “the interdiction of Grace came after the Coast Guard boarded and detained the vessel Jaira Provider, another vessel determined to be carrying illicit fuel to Cuba earlier this summer.” It does not explain what is illicit in the case of this hydrocarbon.

Although the title and first sentence of the press release assert that this action was to enforce the US blockade against Cuba, further on it seems to offer a different justification. “The unsafe storage of fuel in ballast tanks poses an inherent danger to the marine environment. The actions of the United States and Mexico prevented an unregulated transfer of fuel in the Caribbean Sea, where deceptive shipping practices, unsafe vessel conditions and hidden cargoes can increase the risk of oil spills and other pollution incidents that threaten coastal communities, fisheries and sensitive marine ecosystems.”

The press release concluded by stating that “the United States Coast Guard continued conducting operations to confront illicit maritime activity by stateless dark fleet vessels that fail to adhere to international norms. These efforts are conducted consistent with international law as reflected in the Law of the Sea Convention and in cooperation with flag and port state authorities.”

In the end, it left no doubt that the goal of this operation was to enforce the blockade of Cuba. “The Coast Guard concluded the successful interdiction of … Grace, following a coordinated international effort… confirming the illicit trafficking of fuel to Cuba.”

That the release was issued almost a month after the capture, suggests Professor Michael Bustamante, a specialist in Cuban-American studies at the University of Miami, could have more to do with the midterm elections in the United States than with anything else. That the Coast Guard “announces this news a month later and a month before the midterms, I’ll let you be the judges of those timelines,” he wrote on his social media.

La Jornada asked the Secretariat of Foreign Affairs (SRE) last night for information on the participation of Mexican authorities in the operation, but as of this edition’s closing there was no response.

The post US Seized a Ship with Crude Oil That Was Headed to Cuba and Sent It to Mexico appeared first on Mexico Solidarity Media.

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