President Donald Trump asserted Tuesday he was directing a “total and complete quarantine” of sanctioned oil tankers arriving at and departing from Venezuela, escalating pressure against leader Nicolás Maduro’s administration and implying an economic purpose for the US’ military actions in the area.
Highlighting the phrase “total and complete quarantine” in uppercase letters in a Truth Social post, Trump referenced the substantial array of US military resources in the region, hinted that more might arrive, and targeted Maduro’s regime by name. He also intimated Venezuela should surrender territory, petroleum, and holdings to the United States, making clear that one goal of his military operation is not solely about opposing the drug trade.
“Venezuela is wholly encircled by the largest Fleet ever assembled in the Chronicle of South America. It will only grow larger, and the impact to them will be like nothing they have ever witnessed before — Until such time as they return to the United States of America all of the Petroleum, Land, and other Assets that they previously confiscated from us,” Trump stated Tuesday evening.
Combined with Trump’s menace of ground assaults on Venezuelan ground, the action intensified strain on Caracas by targeting its fiscal lifeline, which had already encountered difficulties after new restrictions on the oil sector earlier this year and last week’s capture of a tanker laden with Venezuelan oil.
Venezuela criticized the declaration in a Tuesday communication, labeling it “a reckless and serious warning.”
Trump’s declaration also emphasized the president’s concentration on the country’s oil, which he has maintained the US ought to access if Maduro is removed. State-owned Petróleos de Venezuela oversees the nation’s petroleum industry. Houston-based Chevron is the sole US firm extracting in Venezuela and transmits a segment of its output to PDVSA under a sanctions exemption.
American enterprises possessed a considerably wider presence in Venezuela’s oil fields until the nation placed the sector under governmental dominion in the 1970s. Trump has been open about his wish for the US to regain entry to the country’s oil industry.
Venezuela’s oil reserves are the planet’s most extensive but function significantly below capacity owing to international restraints. A large portion of the nation’s oil is marketed to China.
The US administration has imposed prohibitions on Venezuela since 2005, and the initial Trump tenure in 2019 effectively barred all crude exports to the United States from PDVSA. Then-President Joe Biden in 2022 afforded Chevron authorization to operate in Venezuela as part of a drive to reduce fuel costs. Trump rescinded that authorization in March but subsequently reinstated it under the condition that no revenue goes to the Maduro government.
In his Truth Social message, Trump accused “the illegitimate Maduro administration” of employing stolen oil to “fund themselves, narcotics terrorism, human smuggling, homicide, and confinement.”
The Trump administration has instigated strikes against suspected narcotics vessels in the Caribbean, and the president has affirmed repeatedly that strikes on ground will occur shortly. Officials had mostly characterized the operation as concerning the countering of the narcotics enterprise, but on Tuesday, Vanity Fair released discussions where White House chief of staff Susie Wiles suggested the endeavor was about applying pressure on Maduro to step down.
CNN has contacted the White House and US Southern Command, responsible for military engagements in most of Latin America and the Caribbean, for further details regarding the quarantine.
The declaration from Venezuela’s leadership condemned the action, asserting Trump “aims to enforce, in an utterly irrational manner, a supposed naval military quarantine on Venezuela with the goal of seizing the wealth that belongs to our Homeland.”
The administration reiterated Venezuela’s sovereignty and stated its representative to the United Nations “will promptly move to condemn this severe breach of International Pact.”
Blockades are viewed as a hostile act under certain global accords.
A Justice Department memorandum from 1961, when relations were exceedingly strained between the US and Cuba, indicated the president could impose a quarantine on Cuba, but noted “a quarantine is a hostile action which, as a matter of international law, is typically validated solely if a condition of war, legal or actual, is present.”
Speaking prior to Trump’s announcement, Maduro commended Venezuela for having “demonstrated to be a resilient nation” against the US pressure effort.
“Venezuela has [spent] 25 weeks denouncing, resisting, and overcoming a campaign of multifaceted hostility, ranging from mental terrorism to the piracy of the privateers who assaulted the oil tanker,” Maduro remarked on state broadcast earlier Tuesday, adding, “We have taken the pledge to safeguard our fatherland, and that on this ground, serenity and mutual joy prevail.”
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