Oil tankers anchored in Lake Maracaibo after loading crude oil at the Bajo Grande refinery port in Venezuela. Photo: José Bula Urrutia/Gettyimages.ru.
Caracas (OrinocoTribune.com)—In an escalation of the US empire’s ongoing illegal sanctions on Venezuela, US President Donald Trump has announced a “full blockade” of the sovereign nation and its oil tanker fleet. He claimed the measure would remain in place until Venezuela “returns all the oil, land, and other assets” he alleged were previously stolen from the US. The announcement ignited an immediate response from the Venezuelan government, followed by all state institutions and international allies.
“Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America,” Trump wrote on social media this Tuesday, December 16, adding that “it will only get bigger, and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before.”
He did not specify what oil, land, or assets he claims were stolen, nor did he elaborate on the bizarre claims of the so-called “war on drugs” argument that has seemed to take a backseat in recent days; something that Caracas has consistently condemned as an aggression against its sovereignty and an attempt to seize its natural resources.
In his post online, the US president attacked the Venezuelan government, labeling it an “illegitimate regime.” He accused it of using “oil from […] stolen fields to finance narcoterrorism, human trafficking, murder, and kidnapping,” refusing to provide any evidence for his fictitious claims. Venezuela has repeatedly proven that the nation has been robbed of billions of dollars in international bank accounts, two tons of gold seized by the Bank of England, and the CITGO Corporation. The oil retailer and refining corporation is owned by PDVSA and valued at more than $15 billion, with yearly revenue of about $4 billion.
Let's be clear: a military blockade is an act of war. Congress must authorize it. Is this policy or just another Trump social media moment?
The real asset theft? Billions of Venezuela's funds frozen in banks abroad, 2 tons of gold in the Bank of England, with the seizure of… pic.twitter.com/6wpkDiQExt
— Orinoco Tribune (@OrinocoTribune) December 17, 2025
Foreign terrorist organization designation
“For the theft of our assets, and for many other reasons, including terrorism, drug trafficking, and human trafficking,” continued Trump’s statement, “the Venezuelan regime has been designated a foreign terrorist organization. Therefore, today I am ordering a total and complete blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela.”
The US president also insisted on repeating other unfounded accusations, such as that Caracas supposedly sent “illegal immigrants and criminals” into the US. He stated the White House “will not allow criminals, terrorists or other countries to steal, threaten or harm” his country, nor allow “a hostile regime” to seize oil he claims to somehow be property of the US colonial entity, despite the resources being located in Venezuelan territory and belonging to the Venezuelan people.
“We will not give up”
Earlier on Tuesday, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro reiterated that, despite prolonged and multifaceted US aggression, Venezuela will defeat “the oligarchy and imperialism under any circumstances.”
“For 25 weeks, Venezuela has been denouncing, confronting, and defeating a multidimensional campaign of aggression that ranges from psychological terrorism to the piracy that has plundered our oil, and which has multiple forms,” he stated in an address to Venezuelan workers. “What has Venezuela demonstrated? […] That Venezuela is a strong country, that it has real power. And we have demonstrated that we are prepared to continue our march. And, what’s more, that we are prepared to accelerate the march of a profound revolution that will give power to the people, completely and definitively.”
Citizens have consistently taken to the streets to display support for Venezuelan authorities and their rejection of US imperialism, demonstrating their readiness to resist by any means, including through the use of force. On December 10, these protests included the mass condemnation of the seizure of a tanker carrying Venezuelan oil in the Caribbean Sea, an act denounced by Caracas that same day at the UN Security Council as an act of piracy.
Government communique
On Wednesday night, the Venezuelan government issued a statement in response to what many analysts consider a declaration of war by the US empire, despite the US president neglecting to request for the congressional approval mandated under US law.
The statement reiterates Venezuela’s full sovereignty over its natural resources, the right to free navigation and free trade, as well as its adherence to the UN Charter. “[The US’s] true intention,” it adds, “which has been denounced by Venezuela and the people of the US in large demonstrations, was always to appropriate the country’s oil, land, and minerals through gigantic campaigns of lies and manipulation.”
Below, you can read the full unofficial translation of the Venezuelan government’s statement:
A united Venezuela rejects Trump’s grotesque threat and will condemn it
On the night of December 16, 2025, the President of the United States, Donald Trump, violating International Law, free trade, and free navigation, has launched a reckless and serious threat against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
On his social media, he assumes that Venezuela’s oil, land, and mineral wealth are his property. Consequently, he claims that Venezuela must hand over all its riches to him immediately. The President of the United States is attempting to impose a supposed naval and military blockade on Venezuela in an utterly irrational manner, with the aim of stealing the wealth that belongs to our nation.
Venezuela, in full exercise of the International Law that protects us, our Constitution, and the laws of the Republic, reaffirms its sovereignty over all its natural resources, as well as its right to free navigation and free trade in the Caribbean Sea and the world’s oceans. Consequently, it will proceed, in strict adherence to the UN Charter, to fully exercise its freedom, jurisdiction, and sovereignty in the face of these warmongering threats.
Our Ambassador to the UN will immediately denounce this serious violation of International Law against Venezuela.
We call upon the people of the United States and the peoples of the world to reject by all means this extravagant threat, which 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 and to our Liberator, Simón Bolívar. The people of Venezuela, in perfect popular, military, and police unity, will know how to defend their historical rights and triumph through peace.
Mr. Donald Trump explicitly stated the following interventionist and colonialist expression: “until all the oil, land, and other assets that were previously stolen from us are returned to the United States.” His true intention, which has been denounced by Venezuela and the people of the United States in massive demonstrations, has always been to seize 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 to walk, together with its people, the path of building prosperity and the unrestricted defense of our independence and sovereignty.
The Venezuelan people, in perfect popular, military, and police unity, remain steadfast in the unrestricted protection of their territory, their resources, and their freedom. With our Liberator, we say: “Fortunately, a handful of free men have defeated powerful empires.”
Caracas, December 16, 2025.
Comprehensive state response
On Wednesday, the first institution to respond to the threat was the Bolivarian National Armed Force (FANB). Venezuela’s Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino, together with the FANB’s High Command, stated it would preserve at all costs the nation’s territorial integrity, its legitimate rights over airspace and maritime areas, and sovereignty, independence, and peace that the nation holds dear.
“We can say that Venezuela has scored a victory in the face of truth; the truth has been revealed,” the military commander warned. “It is now through force, no longer through sanctions, unilateral coercive measures, political, diplomatic, and media isolation, psychological terrorism; force and violence have been used, and those who resort to them are lost.”
He emphasized that Washington’s “war on drugs” narrative “has fallen apart in the eyes of international public opinion,” and that US imperialism is blatant in its desire for Venezuela’s natural resources. Furthermore, he rejected Trump’s accusations that Venezuela stole any assets of the US, claiming the true intentions of the empire “are nothing other than to force regime change in our country and grossly seize its oil and other strategic natural resources.”
Almost simultaneously, PDVSA issued a statement reporting that oil export operations are continuing as scheduled. “The export operations of Venezuelan crude oil and derivatives continue despite the attempted illegal and illegitimate blockade, through secure schemes and full guarantees,” reported Delcy Rodríguez, head of PDVSA and the vice president of Venezuela.
“Oil tankers linked to PDVSA operations continue to sail with full assurance, technical support, and operational guarantees, in the legitimate exercise of the rights to free navigation and free trade, widely recognized and protected by international law,” the statement reads, reiterating that PDVSA has remained active despite all of the US attacks it has endured.
Minutes later, the Moral Republican Council—formed by the Prosecutor’s Office, Comptroller’s Office, and Ombudsman’s Office, one of the five branches of the Venezuelan state—made a televised statement expressing its support for President Maduro in all measures he decides to take to safeguard Venezuela’s rights and sovereignty, describing Trump’s action as a brutal escalation.
The Moral Council made a “call to the people of the US and the peoples of the world to reject by all means this aberrant threat that reveals the true intentions of the US government to steal the resources of our country and our continent.”
In the afternoon, the National Assembly unanimously approved a resolution repudiating the US president’s announcement. The parliament agreed to defend “the full and inalienable sovereignty of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela over all its territory,” including its natural resources, emphasizing that they are “inviolable, inalienable, and under the absolute ownership and control of [Venezuela].”
The deputies called “upon the Venezuelan people to remain on alert and permanently mobilized in perfect popular, military, and police unity for the unrestricted defense of the historical rights of the homeland, thus ensuring peace and territorial integrity against any threat that seeks to disturb” Venezuela’s independence.
The peoples and governments of the world were also urged to “reject by all means this extravagant threat that undermines global peace and reveals US true intentions of plunder.”
Venezuela’s judicial branch joined in rejecting the US actions, as confirmed by the president of the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ), Caryslia Rodríguez. After reading an official statement, Rodríguez added that the imposition of a “naval blockade” constitutes an attack on sovereignty and a new violation of Venezuela’s constitution and international law.
“Today, we condemn [the US] and call for a united effort to restore and maintain ethical and legal values as instruments of peace, sovereignty, and equality among the peoples of the world,” Rodríguez stated. She explained that the TSJ supports the ratification of Venezuela’s sovereignty over its natural resources and its right to free navigation and free trade.
Local and international reaction
Chavista forces and leaders rejected the Trump announcement across social media, accompanied by public statements from far-right politicians who are not sympathizers of President Maduro or Chavismo, such as Bernabe Gutierrez, Enrique Ochoa Antich, and Henry Falcon, among others.
Latin American presidents and international allies have also expressed full support for Venezuela against what many consider to be an act of war that violates the UN Charter.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov expressed deep concern over the belligerent US statements and over Europe’s silence on the matter. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum reiterated México’s historic position against foreign interventions and demanded the United Nations assume its due role as an international peacekeeping body to “avoid a bloodshed.”
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel had already expressed Cuba’s strong condemnation of a US naval blockade and its support for Venezuela and the Bolivarian Revolution.
Iran also issued a communiqué strongly rejecting the US threats. “The US interference with, as well as its seizure and obstruction of, the free passage of commercial vessels to or from Venezuela constitutes a clear case of state piracy and armed robbery at sea,” the statement reads. “Invoking US domestic laws and unilateral, illegal sanctions to justify these actions cannot, in any way, serve as a basis to legitimize such criminal acts.”
China reported that its minister for foreign affairs, Wang Yi, had a phone conversation with his Venezuelan counterpart Yván Gil, expressing opposition to the US empire’s unilateral bullying.
Even the German government expressed concern over Trump’s threats, warning of risks to regional peace and stability, as stated by spokesman for the German Foreign Ministry, Martin Giese. “The German government has an interest in preventing the situation in the region from deteriorating further,” he said during a press conference. “Therefore, we view the overall situation with concern. Of course, international law must be respected.”
The Venezuelan government announced on Wednesday night that President Maduro held a phone conversation with UN Secretary General António Guterres, in order to warn him about the growing escalation of US threats and their possible implications for regional peace. The head of state explained that Trump’s claims were supported by senior US official Stephen Miller, who said the Venezuelan oil industry was also to be owned by the US regime, which marks a direct colonial threat to Venezuela’s sovereignty and international law.
Special for Orinoco Tribune by staff
OT/JRE/AU
