Venezuela Won’t Ever Again be a Colony: Maduro Says on Trump’s Oil Blockade
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro holds up "El Libro Azul", a text about the birth and development of the Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela, and a copy of the Venezuelan Constitution. Photo: Nicolás Maduro
The US president has once again lashed out against Venezuela. Following a series of economic sanctions and the military deployment of over 15,000 soldiers and war ships in the Caribbean Sea, Donald Trump has decided to take further action to suffocate the government of Nicolás Maduro economically.
“Recover our oil”?: Trump’s controversial statements
While for weeks the White House has been justifying its sanctions and threats of invasion against Venezuela by accusing it of being a key node in an international drug trafficking scheme, the imposition of the naval blockade seems to have a different motivation. Trump has declared that the “TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE OF ALL SANCTIONED OIL TANKERS” is in order to take back resources that, according to Trump, belong to the United States.
“America will not allow Criminals, Terrorists, or other Countries to rob, threaten, or harm our Nation and, likewise, will not allow a Hostile Regime to take our Oil, Land, or any other Assets, all of which must be returned to the United States, immediately,” Trump said on Truth Social.
Trump threatened: “Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America. It will only get bigger, and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before — Until such time as they return to the United States of America all of the Oil, Land, and other Assets that they previously stole from us.”
Trump declared that, “For the theft of our Assets, and many other reasons, including Terrorism, Drug Smuggling, and Human Trafficking, the Venezuelan Regime has been designated a FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION.”
The announcement was made a week after the US military seized a Venezuelan oil tanker bound for Cuba. The Maduro government has denounced this act before the United Nations, which it considers an “act of international piracy.”
“Interventionism and imperialism,” says Caracas
Venezuelan authorities have stated that Trump’s announcement is a “grotesque threat” and a violation of international law, free trade, and freedom of navigation. They denounced that Trump “claims on his social media that Venezuela’s oil, land, and mineral wealth are his property” and that “consequently, Venezuela must immediately hand over all its riches.”
Furthermore, the statement affirms: “The true intention [of Trump’s measure], which has been denounced by Venezuela and by the people of the United States in large demonstrations, has always been to appropriate the country’s oil, land, and minerals through gigantic campaigns of lies and manipulation.”
According to the statement, Venezuela will report the incident to the United Nations through its ambassador. It also called on the US people and the rest of the world to reject this measure, “which once again reveals Donald Trump’s true intentions to steal the wealth of the country that gave birth to the Liberating Army of South America… The people of Venezuela, in perfect unity with the military and police, will defend their historic rights and triumph through peaceful means.”
Caracas declared: “Venezuela will never again be a colony of any empire or foreign power, and it will continue with its people along the path of building prosperity and defending its independence and sovereignty.”
Opposition to war with Venezuela grows within the US
Meanwhile, condemnation of Trump’s decision has also emerged within the United States. Congressman Joaquín Castro said, “A naval blockade is unquestionably an act of war. A war that the Congress never authorized and the American people do not want.”
Castro added that himself, US Representative Jim McGovern, and Representative Thomas Massie, will bring a resolution to the House of Representatives calling on President Trump to “end hostilities with Venezuela.” “Every member of the House of Representatives will have the opportunity to decide if they support sending Americans into yet another regime change war,” he stated.
For its part, the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) issued a statement rejecting the blockade and denouncing it as an act of war: “In his administration’s latest act of war, Donald Trump has ordered a naval blockade of Venezuela. Its stated goal is to cut off all oil revenue to force the illegal overthrow of an independent government. This is a siege designed to cause economic collapse and a humanitarian crisis as a precursor to all-out war by the United States. This aggression is about controlling Venezuela’s oil and reversing its political independence. It follows a pattern of US intervention in Latin America, where governments that resist US control are targeted for regime change.”
Furthermore, the PSL states: “Trump has made his colonial intentions clear by stating US plans to steal Venezuelan land, oil, and minerals. The people of the United States have overwhelmingly opposed military intervention in Venezuela. This war, like the war on Iraq, is built on false pretenses and imperial ambition. We must organize and mobilize to stop this blockade and prevent a wider war. No war on Venezuela.”
Courtesy: Peoples Dispatch
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