Venezuela: The US blockade of sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela violates international law

Venezuela's Vice President and Oil Minister Rodriguez said that the US government's blockade of sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela violates international law.

Xinhua News Agency reported that Rodriguez posted a government communique on social media on Tuesday (December 16), saying that this move also affected free trade and free navigation. US President Trump's remarks on social media on that day were highly interventionist and colonialist. Trump attempted to impose a blockade on Venezuela through the navy and steal the wealth belonging to Venezuela.

The communique reaffirmed Venezuela's sovereignty over all its natural resources, as well as its right to free navigation and free trade in the Caribbean Sea and around the world, and called on the American people and people of all countries to condemn this absurd threat by all means. The Venezuelan representative to the United Nations will immediately file a complaint against Trump's remarks. Venezuela will never again become a colony of any empire or external force.

On the 16th, Trump ordered a "comprehensive and thorough blockade" on all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela. He posted on Truth Social, "Due to many reasons such as stealing our assets, terrorism, drug smuggling and human trafficking, the Venezuelan regime has been listed as a foreign terrorist organization."

On December 10, Trump announced that the US military had seized an oil tanker in the waters near Venezuela and said it would "keep" the oil on board. U.S. Attorney General Bundy said that the U.S. has issued a seizure order against the oil tanker "used for transporting oil from Venezuela and Iran", and the tanker "has been sanctioned by the U.S. for its involvement in an illegal oil transportation network that supports foreign terrorist organizations." The US Treasury Department released an announcement on its official website on the 11th, updating the list of sanctions against relevant individuals and entities in Venezuela, and adding six oil tankers as new sanctions targets. Venezuelan Foreign Minister Hill condemned the US military's seizure of the oil tanker as "international piracy".

Since September, the United States has deployed multiple warships in the Caribbean waters near Venezuela under the pretext of "anti-drug" operations to put pressure on the country. Trump threatened at the end of November that he might "soon" crack down on Venezuelan "drug traffickers" by land. Venezuela has repeatedly accused the United States of attempting to instigate regime change in Venezuela through military threats and to expand militatively in Latin America.