Trump orders blockade of sanctioned oil tankers to and from Venezuela, escalating pressure campaign
President Donald Trump ordered a “total and complete” blockade of sanctioned oil tankers heading to and from Venezuela, intensifying a months-long U.S. military buildup in the Caribbean and sharpening Washington’s confrontation with President Nicolás Maduro’s government.
- Advertisement -
“Today, I am ordering A TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE OF ALL SANCTIONED OIL TANKERS going into, and out of, Venezuela,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. He said Venezuela is “completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America,” a reference to Navy and Marine units deployed to the region, which he has tied to counter-narcotics efforts.
The Pentagon has framed the operation, dubbed “Southern Spear,” as a campaign against Latin American drug cartels that the Trump administration designated as foreign terrorist organizations. U.S. forces have so far targeted boats in international waters they say were trafficking drugs, killing at least 95 people — a record that many experts argue amounts to extrajudicial killings.
Venezuela views the operation as an effort to oust Maduro. Tensions have been rising in recent weeks as Trump signaled potential military action inside the country, saying Venezuela’s airspace should be considered “closed” and that efforts to halt drug trafficking “on land” would begin soon.
With Venezuela’s economy heavily dependent on crude exports, a blockade of sanctioned oil shipments threatens to further constrict revenue for the state-run oil company PDVSA and deepen the country’s prolonged economic crisis. Still, Trump linked the military posture to a broader aim: restoring U.S. access to Venezuelan resources.
The armada “will only get bigger,” he wrote, until Venezuela returns “to the United States of America all of the Oil, Land, and other Assets that they previously stole from us.” He did not specify what assets he meant. Venezuela nationalized its oil industry in the 1970s and, under Maduro’s predecessor Hugo Chávez, forced foreign companies to cede majority control to PDVSA.
Caracas condemned the announcement, accusing Washington of seeking to “steal the riches that belong to our homeland.” Venezuelan officials have long argued that U.S. sanctions and pressure aim to destabilize the government by choking off oil income.
Chevron, the last major U.S. producer still operating in Venezuela under a special sanctions waiver, said its operations “continue without disruption and in full compliance with laws and regulations applicable to its business.” The company’s limited presence has been seen as a pressure valve in an otherwise heavily sanctioned sector.
U.S. officials insist the Caribbean deployment is focused on interdiction and deterrence. But Trump’s public demands for Venezuela to “return” oil and land to the United States, paired with the show of force, underscore how the mission has become entwined with the administration’s political confrontation with Maduro.
The move is likely to reverberate through global oil markets and regional politics. Any further escalation at sea, in Venezuelan airspace, or on land could compound humanitarian strains inside Venezuela and test U.S. partners in the hemisphere wary of a broader conflict.
There was no immediate indication of when or how the blockade would be implemented, or what criteria U.S. forces would use to identify “sanctioned” tankers. The White House and Pentagon did not provide additional details beyond the president’s post and prior briefings about “Southern Spear.”
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
