US Coast Guard says it intercepted ship carrying fuel to Cuba

US Coast Guard cutters escort the cargo ship, Grace, after intercepting it on 5 September. Photograph: U. S. Coast GuardView image in fullscreenUS Coast Guard cutters escort the cargo ship, Grace, after intercepting it on 5 September.

Photograph: U. S. Coast GuardCubaUS Coast Guard says it intercepted ship carrying fuel to CubaUS says ship thought to be using common ‘dark fleet’ tactics was boarded and taken to Mexico as embargo continues.

Prefira o Guardian no Google O US Coast Guard anunciou que interceptou um grande navio de carga transportando combustível destinado à Cuba, enquanto o embargo de petróleo da administração Trump contra a nação insular continuava.

The vessel named Grace was stopped on 5 September in the Caribbean Sea between Cuba ⁠and Mexico while using tactics to evade authorities, the Coast Guard said. The New York Times reported that the ship ⁠was 91 metres (300ft) long.

A Coast Guard team ‌boarded the ship and escorted it to Mexico, where a Mexican navy inspection team “confirmed the presence of large quantities of fuel in the vessel’s ballast tanks”.

The vessel was also carrying several containers believed to contain illicit fuel, the statement said.

View image in fullscreenChildren walk in the dark in Havana, Cuba. The country is suffering blackouts amid Trump’s blockade. Photograph: Ramón Espinosa/APOil shipments from Cuba’s traditional suppliers, Venezuela and Mexico, ended abruptly after the US ousted the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, in January.

US Coast Guard ⁠cutters patrol the waters off Cuba, while sanctions and threats have dissuaded ​tankers from even ​setting sail.

The statement did not say how authorities knew the fuel was headed to Cuba or how much fuel Grace was carrying.