Maduro Calls Trump's Oil Tanker Crackdown 'Interventionist and Colonialist', Says 'Venezuela Will Never Again Be a Colony'

Venezuela's authoritarian President Nicolás Maduro sharply rejected President Donald Trump's announcement of a total blockade on sanctioned Venezuelan oil tankers, calling the move a "grotesque threat" and an "absolutely irrational" attempt to impose a naval blockade aimed at seizing the country's resources.

In a statement issued hours after Trump said the United States would block all sanctioned tankers entering or leaving Venezuela, the Maduro regime accused Washington of violating international law, free trade and freedom of navigation. Maduro said Trump "pretends to impose, in an absolutely irrational way, a supposed military naval blockade" with the goal of "stealing Venezuela's wealth."

Trump announced the measure in a post on his social media platform, Truth Social, saying the U.S. has designated the Venezuelan government as a foreign terrorist organization and ordered a "total and complete blockade" of sanctioned oil tankers.

He claimed the Maduro government uses oil revenues to finance narcotrafficking, human trafficking, terrorism, murder and kidnapping, and said U.S. naval pressure in the Caribbean would continue until Venezuela "returns" oil, land and other assets he said were stolen from the United States.

Responding to those remarks, the Venezuelan government said Trump "assumes that Venezuela's oil, land and mineral wealth are his property," calling the position "interventionist and colonialist." "Venezuela will never again be a colony of any empire or foreign power," the statement said.

Maduro reiterated that Washington's "true intention" has always been to appropriate Venezuela's natural resources through "gigantic campaigns of lies and manipulation." The government also rejected the possibility of a naval blockade, describing it as a "grave and reckless threat," and said it would exercise its sovereignty "above these warmongering threats."

Caracas said its ambassador to the United Nations will immediately file a formal complaint against the United States for what it described as a serious violation of international law.

Trump's announcement follows last week's U.S. seizure of the tanker Skipper, which was carrying Venezuelan crude and was intercepted in the Caribbean under a court order. U.S. officials said the cargo was bound for Cuba and China.