The Venezuelan government has blasted Donald Trump’s “grotesque threat” to stop all oil tankers from entering and leaving their country.
In a late night Truth Social rant, Trump, 79, seriously ramped up the tension between the U.S. and Venezuela by ordering a “total and complete blockade” of all sanctioned oil tankers coming in and out of South American country.
In his lengthy post on Tuesday evening, Trump also claimed that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is using oil to finance “Drug Terrorism, Human Trafficking, Murder, and Kidnapping” and designated his regime a “FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION.”
The president’s furious post comes as the U.S. has increased its military presence in the Caribbean as it puts more pressure on the leftist president.
“I am ordering A TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE OF ALL SANCTIONED OIL TANKERS going into, and out of, Venezuela,” Trump posted.
He claimed Maduro had sent illegal aliens and criminals into the U.S. under the “weak and inept” Biden administration.
“The Illegal Aliens and Criminals that the Maduro Regime has sent into the United States during the weak and inept Biden Administration, are being returned to Venezuela at a rapid pace,” Trump wrote.
“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.”
Trump’s blockade will impact Venezuela’s sale of oil to overseas countries, primarily China, usually through sanctioned tankers.
China is the main buyer of Venezuelan oil, largely through indirect means to avoid sanctions.
Venezuela produced an estimated 860,000 barrels of oil per day in November, according to the International Energy Agency. That is only about a third the amount they produced a decade ago, and accounts for less than 1 percent of total world consumption.
In a statement after Trump’s post, the Venezuelan government denounced the blockade as a “grotesque threat” and called it a violation of international law.
Calling Trump’s order “a reckless and serious threat,” the statement said Trump “intends to impose, in an absolutely irrational manner, a supposed naval military blockade on Venezuela with the objective of stealing the wealth that belongs to our homeland Venezuela.”
The country said their ambassador to the United Nations will “denounce this serious violation of International Law.”
The statement said the “extravagant threat” of a blockade “once again reveals Donald Trump’s true intentions to steal the riches of the country that gave birth to the United Liberation Army of South America.”
The government claimed his “true intention” was to “appropriate the country’s oil, land, and minerals through gigantic campaigns of lies and manipulation.”
“Venezuela will never again be a colony of any empire or foreign power and will continue, together with its people, on the path of building prosperity and the unrestricted defense of our independence and sovereignty,” the statement read.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
The blockade comments come a week after Trump confirmed the U.S. had seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela. “A large tanker, very large,” Trump said. “Largest one ever seized, actually.”
He did not give any information on why the tanker was seized, saying there would be a discussion of that “later.”
The Trump administration has conducted more than two dozen military strikes on vessels in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea near Venezuela, claiming they have prevented drugs from reaching the U.S.
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