WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he is ordering a blockade of all “sanctioned oil tankers” bound for Venezuela, escalating pressure on the country’s authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro, and aiming to tighten control over Venezuela’s economy. The move follows last week’s seizure of a Venezuelan oil tanker by U.S. forces and a buildup of military assets in the region. In a social media post, Trump accused Venezuela of using oil revenues to fund drug trafficking and other illicit activities, warning that the U.S. military presence would remain until Venezuela returned oil, land, and other assets to the United States.
Trump claimed Venezuela is “completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America” and suggested the pressure would increase. Pentagon officials referred questions about the announcement to the White House. Venezuela’s government condemned the declaration, calling it a violation of international law and free trade and describing it as an attempt to seize the country’s resources. Maduro’s administration said it plans to raise the matter at the United Nations.
The U.S. military has carried out strikes on vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific as part of its campaign to disrupt drug shipments, with at least 95 casualties in 25 known attacks. While the Trump administration frames the operations as efforts to stop drugs from reaching U.S. shores, officials and advisors have indicated the actions are also intended to pressure Maduro to relinquish power. Venezuela, which produces about 1 million barrels of oil per day and relies heavily on oil revenue, has used unflagged tankers to circumvent U.S. sanctions since 2017. Most of its exports are sent to China, the U.S. via Chevron, and Cuba, according to industry experts.
Trump has previously indicated that Maduro has offered stakes in Venezuela’s oil and mineral wealth to avoid conflict with the U.S. The specifics of enforcing what Trump called a “TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE” are unclear, but the U.S. Navy has 11 ships in the area, including an aircraft carrier and amphibious assault vessels, supported by patrol aircraft capable of monitoring maritime traffic.
Trump also referred to the Venezuelan regime as a “foreign terrorist organization,” though experts note that such designations are typically reserved for non-state actors, and Venezuela as a sovereign state does not hold that classification. In the past, the administration designated the Cartel de los Soles, linked to Venezuelan military officers, as a foreign terrorist organization, but the nation itself remains outside the list of state sponsors of terrorism.