Venezuela hits back after Trump orders blockade of ALL sanctioned oil tankers and warns ‘it will only get bigger’
VENEZUELAN tyrant Nicolas Maduro has branded Donald Trump’s “total” blockade of sanctioned oil tankers “warmongering threats”.
The dictator’s fiery comments came after Trump’s latest escalation on Tuesday which put the two countries one step closer to all-out war.
Despot Maduro also accused the Don of violating international law and free trade.
It comes after Trump announced on Truth Social: “I am ordering A TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE OF ALL SANCTIONED OIL TANKERS going into, and out of, Venezuela.”
The US president has launched an increasingly suffocating campaign against Maduro’s government – as a huge American military presence continues to lurk in the Caribbean.
US armed forces also seized a Venezuelan oil tanker last week – with dramatic footage showing rifle-wielding troops storming Maduro’s vessel.
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Stunning clips showed commandos sweeping through the ship as they executed Trump’s boldest play yet in his stand-off with the Venezuelan despot.
The Don also claimed in his post that Maduro has been “using oil from these stolen oil fields” to finance “drug terrorism, human trafficking, murder and kidnapping”.
He continued: “The Illegal Aliens and Criminals that the Maduro Regime has sent into the United States during the weak and inept Biden Administration, are being returned to Venezuela at a rapid pace.
“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.”
Referring to his huge military presence near Venezuela, Trump also said the “Armada” currently stationed in the Caribbean “will only get bigger”.
Maduro’s cronies described last week’s daring tanker operation as “theft” and once again accused the US of seeking regime change.
It marked a major escalation in the US campaign against Venezuela – and is the strongest hint yet that America’s sights were set beyond drug trafficking.
Up to this point, operations had been limited to remote strikes on small boats that America identified as “narco-terrorists”.
But the tanker seizure appeared to be the first clash involving American personnel in the field, and the first target not directly related to the drugs trade.
The US has for months been tightening the noose around Maduro.
This has been displayed through a series of bold strikes against Venezuelan drug-trafficking boats and the build-up of a vast military force in the Caribbean.
On Tuesday, dramatic footage showed another round of “narco-terrorists” being blitzed by Trump’s military, marking the latest escalation in his war on drugs.
Another swarm of boats, believed to be carrying drugs, burst into flames after being hit by US missiles.
Authorities said the strikes targeted “designated terrorist organisations”, killing three “narco-terrorists” in the first vessel.
A further two were killed in the second boat and three in the third.
At the end of last month, Trump vowed the US would soon launch land operations in Venezuela after saying the drug cartels are on a par with terrorist groups Al Qaeda and Hamas.
However, he has maintained that his only goal is to wipe out the drug trade flooding narcotics into the US – justifying each escalation with this cause.
Many suspect he in fact wants to topple Maduro or gain access to Venezuela’s vast oil wells – and this latest operation will spur on those suspicions.
Maduro is reportedly living like a hunted man – sleeping in a different bed each night and constantly changing phones to evade would-be assassins.
He already has a huge $50million bounty on his head – and is facing mounting pressure to step down or flee every passing day.