President Trump ordered a “total and complete blockade” of all oil tankers heading to and leaving Venezuela while labeling the country a “foreign terrorist organization” and demanding the regime return “all of the oil, land, and other assets that they previously stole from us.”
“Today, I am ordering A TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE OF ALL SANCTIONED OIL TANKERS going into, and out of, Venezuela,” Trump declared on Truth Social Tuesday.
“America will not allow Criminals, Terrorists, or other Countries, to rob, threaten, or harm our Nation and, likewise, will not allow a Hostile Regime to take our Oil, Land, or any other Assets, all of which must be returned to the United States, IMMEDIATELY.”
While it’s not fully clear what stolen oil and land the president is referencing, Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chávez, nationalized some oil fields and essentially took over stakes from foreign companies like ExxonMobil.
Venezuela has the largest known oil reserves on the planet, producing roughly 1 million barrels a day, though the regime has been largely cut off from global markets due to US sanctions.
As a result, the country has sold much of its oil through the black market in China at a deep discount.
Trump’s directive Tuesday comes about a week after his administration seized a sanctioned oil tanker near Venezuela’s coast.
For weeks, the president has been tightening the screws on Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, ordering strikes on alleged Venezuelan drug boats in the Caribbean Sea and deploying military assets in the region.
Over 95 people have been killed in the 25 known strikes on alleged drug boats near Venezuela.
“Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America,” Trump further chided. “It will only get bigger, and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before.”
“The illegitimate Maduro Regime is using Oil from these stolen Oil Fields to finance themselves, Drug Terrorism, Human Trafficking, Murder, and Kidnapping.”
At the moment, the US is known to have at least 10 Navy ships, an aircraft carrier and amphibious assault ships in the region.
Earlier this month, Trump teased plans to strike inside Venezuela, and his chief of staff Susie Wiles seemingly implied that his ultimate goal is for Maduro to lose power.
“He wants to keep on blowing boats up until [President Nicolás] Maduro cries uncle. And people way smarter than me on that say that he will,” Wiles told Vanity Fair.
Trump decried the Biden administration for being “weak and inept,” and underscored how illegal immigrants from Venezuela are rapidly being returned.
