JAKARTA - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has confirmed that Venezuela will continue to trade oil. This affirmation responds to President Donald Trump's threat to block all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving the country.
"The trade in and out will continue - our oil and all our natural wealth that according to the constitution and the legacy of Bolivar belong to us - our wealth, our land, and our oil - to its only legitimate owner, which for centuries has been the sovereign Venezuelan people, the absolute owner of the land, the subsoil, and all its wealth," said Maduro as quoted by ABC News, Thursday, December 18.
Maduro said Trump's "intention" was regime change in Venezuela.
"This will never happen, never - Venezuela will never be a colony of anything or anyone, never," he said.
Maduro's statement came after Trump announced on Tuesday a "blockade" plan against sanctioned oil tankers entering or leaving Venezuela, increasing American pressure on the Maduro regime.
"Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the history of South America," Trump wrote in a lengthy post on his social media platform. "This Armada will only get bigger, and the surprise for them will be like something they have never seen before - until they return to the United States all the oil, land, and other assets they previously stole from us," he continued via Truth Social.
It is not yet clear exactly what oil and stolen land Trump is referring to. ABC News has contacted the White House for comment.
However, under Maduro's predecessor, Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan government seized assets from several American oil companies after the country nationalized oil fields in 2007.
In the post, Trump announced a "TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE OF ALL OIL TANKER SHIPS SUBJECT TO SANCTIONS entering and leaving Venezuela" and demanded the return of oil and assets.
The Venezuelan government responded to Trump's post, calling his declaration a "flippant and serious threat" to the country, which they said violated international law, free trade, and freedom of navigation.
"The President of the United States intends to impose, in a completely irrational way, a naval military blockade against Venezuela with the aim of stealing wealth that belongs to our homeland," the Venezuelan government said in a statement.
The Venezuelan government said its ambassador to the United Nations would "continue to denounce these serious violations of international law against Venezuela."
They called on "the people of the world to reject" Trump's announcement.
Venezuela has the world's largest known oil reserves, and oil exports are the main source of government revenue.
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