Trump demands Venezuela pay for seized US oil assets
President Donald Trump is once again justifying his declaration of a “blockade” of oil tankers traveling to or from the South American country facing American sanctions by demanding that Venezuela return assets it seized from US oil companies years ago.
Asked about his newest tactic in his months-long pressure campaign against leader Nicolás Maduro, Trump cited lost U.S. investments in Venezuela and suggested that his administration’s moves to confront leaders in Caracas were motivated by at least drug-trafficking accusations as well as disagreements over oil investments.
Some sanctioned tankers are already moving away from Venezuela.
“We’re not going to let anybody through who shouldn’t be passing,” Trump told reporters Wednesday.
“You remember, they took all our energy rights. Not long ago, they took all our oil. We want it back, too. They took it, they took it illegally.”
U.S. oil companies dominated Venezuela’s oil industry until the country’s leaders moved to nationalize the industry, first in the 1970s and then in the 21st century under Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Chavez.
The compensation offered by Venezuela was deemed inadequate, and in 2014 an international arbitration panel ordered the country’s socialist government to pay ExxonMobil US$1.6 billion.
While Venezuelan oil has long dominated relations with the United States, the Trump administration has focused on Maduro’s connections to drug traffickers and accused his administration of facilitating the shipment of dangerous drugs to the United States.
In a social media post Tuesday night, Trump said Venezuela uses oil to finance drug trafficking and other crimes.
U.S. forces last week seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela during a massive military buildup that also included the navy’s most advanced aircraft carrier.
The Trump administration has also launched attacks on suspected drug boats in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific Ocean, killing at least 99 people in total, including four in the attack on Wednesday.
These attacks have led lawmakers and legal experts to raise questions about their legal justification.
Trump also said he was considering a ground attack.
The president blamed his predecessors for not taking a tougher stance against Venezuela over asset seizures.
“Maybe they took that away from us because we had a president who wasn’t watching,” Trump said.
“But they won’t do that again. We want it back. They took our oil rights, we had a lot of oil there. As you know, they threw out our companies, and we want it back.”
Chevron has an exemption from the U.S. government to continue oil production in Venezuela, and the oil giant says its operations are not interrupted.
Maduro called United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday for a meeting “regarding current tensions in the region,” a spokesman said.
In a letter to the UN Security Council, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil demanded that the United States immediately release the “kidnapped crew” and return the oil illegally seized on the high seas.
