‘We want it back’: Trump asserts U.S. claims to Venezuelan oil and land

MEXICO CITY — President Trump ordered a partial blockade of oil tankers to and from Venezuela, potentially crippling the country’s already battered economy, and accused Caracas of stealing “oil, other onshore assets” from the United States; This is a significant escalation in Washington’s relentless campaign against the government of President Nicolás Maduro.

Asked about Venezuela on Wednesday, Trump said the United States would “take the land, the oil rights, everything we have.”

“We want it back,” Trump said, without elaborating further. It was unclear whether Trump planned to say more about Venezuela in his televised address to the nation late Wednesday night.

The blockade, aimed at crippling a key component of Venezuela’s floundering, oil-dependent economy, comes after the Trump administration bolstered its military forces in the Caribbean, blowing up more than two dozen boats allegedly carrying illegal drugs in both the Caribbean and the Pacific and threatening military strikes against Venezuela and its neighbor Colombia.

“Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America,” Trump said in a stray post on the site Truth Social on Tuesday night. “It’s going to get bigger and bigger, and the shock they experience will be unlike anything they’ve ever seen before.”

Shortly after Trump announced the blockade on Tuesday night, the Venezuelan government condemned the move and other efforts by Trump as an attempt to “plunder the riches that belong to our people.”

While leaders of other Latin American countries called for calm, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on UN members to “show restraint and reduce tensions to preserve regional stability” after his phone call with Maduro.

Also Wednesday, Trump faced a rare pushback from the Republican-dominated Congress, where some lawmakers were pressing the administration to release more information about deadly attacks on alleged drug boats.

The Senate gave final approval to a $900 billion defense policy package that, among other things, would require the administration to disclose to lawmakers the specific instructions behind the boat attacks along with unedited videos of the deadly attacks. If the administration fails to comply, the bill would cut a quarter of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s travel budget.

The bill’s passage came a day after Hegseth and Secretary Marco Rubio arrived on Capitol Hill to brief lawmakers on the U.S. military campaign. The briefings faced mixed reactions from lawmakers, largely because Republicans supported the campaign and Democrats expressed concerns about it.

The White House has said its military campaign in Venezuela is aimed at stopping drug trafficking, but U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration data shows Venezuela is a relatively minor player in the U.S. drug trade.

Trump also announced that the South American country had been designated a “foreign terrorist organization.” This would apparently make Venezuela the first country to be slapped with the classification normally reserved for armed groups deemed hostile to the United States or its allies. The consequences for Venezuela remain unclear.

Regional reactions to Trump’s threats highlight new ideological fault lines in Latin America, where right-wing governments have won elections in Chile, Argentina and Ecuador in recent years.

Leftist leaders of the region’s two most populous countries (Brazil and Mexico) called for moderation in Venezuela.

“Whatever one thinks of the Venezuelan government or Maduro’s presidency, Mexico’s position must always be: No intervention, no foreign intervention,” Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Wednesday. he said, calling on the United Nations to seek a peaceful solution and avoid any bloodshed.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva also called on Trump to withdraw from the conflict. Lula stated that he recently offered Trump to facilitate negotiations with the Maduro government and said, “The power of words can outweigh the power of weapons.”

However, Chile’s right-wing president-elect, José Antonio Kast, has said that he supports regime change in Venezuela and that this would reduce migration from Venezuela to other countries in the region.

“If someone is going to do this, let’s make it clear that it will solve a huge problem for us and for all of Latin America, all of South America and even countries in Europe,” Kast said, referring to Venezuelan migration.

In his post on Tuesday, Trump said he had ordered “a complete blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and exiting Venezuela.” While it has the potential to hurt Venezuela’s economy, the fact that the blockade will only affect tankers already sanctioned by US authorities gives Venezuela some breathing room, at least for now.

Experts estimate that only one-third to one-half of the tankers carrying crude oil to Venezuela are likely part of the “dark fleet” of sanctioned tankers. The ships often carry crude oil from Venezuela and Iran, two countries under heavy US trade and economic bans.

But experts said even a partial blockade would be a major blow to Venezuela’s weak economy, reeling under penalties imposed by the United States for more than a decade. And Washington may continue to add tankers to its list of sanctioned tankers.

“The United States could continue to sanction more tankers, leaving Venezuela with almost no revenue,” said David A. Smilde, a Venezuela expert at Tulane University. “This would probably cause a famine in the country.”

Analysts said the increased pressure would likely mean fewer firms willing to take the risk of transporting Venezuelan crude would push up its prices and put more pressure on Caracas. Buyers in China and elsewhere will also likely demand price reductions to buy Venezuelan oil.

Trump said Maduro must go because he is a “narco terrorist” and heads the “Cartel de los Soles,” which While House called a drug trafficking organization. Trump placed a $50 million bounty on Maduro’s head. Experts say Cartel de los Soles is not a functioning cartel but a shorthand term for Venezuelan military officials who have been involved in the drug trade for decades, long before Maduro or his predecessor and mentor, the late Hugo Chavez, took office.

In his comments on Tuesday, Trump condemned the nationalization of Venezuela’s oil industry, which began in the 1970s when Caracas was a strong ally of Washington.

Echoing Trump’s view that Venezuela is “stealing” U.S. assets, Trump’s homeland security advisor Stephen Miller also declared in

Among those believed to be leading Trump’s efforts to oust Maduro is Secretary of State Maro Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants who came to Florida. Rubio has long been an outspoken opponent of the communist governments in Havana and Caracas. Venezuelan oil has helped the economies of left-wing governments in both Cuba and Nicaragua.

Rubio has long campaigned to remove Maduro from office, said Christopher Sabatini, a senior fellow for Latin America at Chatham House. “He has his own political project,” Sabatini said. “He wants to get rid of the dictators in Venezuela and Cuba.”

Staff writers McDonnell and Linthicum reported from Mexico City and Ceballos from Washington. The contributor was Mery Mogollón, special correspondent in Caracas.