“Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest armada ever formed in South America. It will only get bigger and the shock to them will be unlike anything they have seen before until they return to the US all the oil, land and other assets they have stolen from us,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“The illegitimate Maduro regime is using the oil from these stolen oil fields to finance itself, drug terrorism, human trafficking, murder and kidnapping. Due to the theft of our assets and for many other reasons, including terrorism, drug smuggling and human trafficking, the Venezuelan regime has been designated a FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION,” the US president said.
“That's why today I'm ordering a FULL AND TOTAL BLOCKADE OF ALL SANCTIONED TANKERS entering and leaving Venezuela,” Trump said.
“The illegal aliens and criminals that the Maduro regime sent to the US during the weak and inept Biden administration are being returned to Venezuela at a rapid pace. America will not allow criminals, terrorists or countries to rob, threaten or harm our country and will not allow a hostile regime to take our oil, land or any other assets, all of which must be returned to the US IMMEDIATELY,” he added.
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As noted by the New York Times, it is not known how many tankers will be affected by the blockade announced by Trump, or how this step will affect the Venezuelan oil industry. The daily also emphasized that it is not known what return of territory and assets Trump had in mind.
At the same time, Tuesday's entry proves that Venezuela's oil and gas resources are in the center of interest of the Trump administration, which is seeking to overthrow the Maduro regime, the newspaper wrote.
Last week, American forces seized a tanker off the coast of Venezuela and announced the confiscation of the oil transported by it.
The US accuses Maduro of running a drug cartel and for several weeks has been attacking boats which – according to the services – are transporting drugs to the US.
However, oil revenues are much more important for Maduro, his entourage and the country itself, say the media. Oil sales account for over 90 percent. Venezuela's export revenues.
Venezuelan oil, covered by US sanctions, is transported by a “shadow fleet” consisting of approximately 1,000 heavily used tankers, also used to transport oil from Russia and Iran. Many of these entities are also subject to US sanctions.
