US President Donald Trump on Tuesday evening Eastern Standard Time, as Washington's time zone is known in the United States, announced “a complete and total blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela.” He declared the country's government a foreign terrorist organization, promising Caracas received an unprecedented shock.
The US leader emphasized that “the largest fleet ever assembled in the history of South America” is concentrated in the southern Caribbean Sea. And Trump is threatening to increase it. However, according to Venezuelan media, there is no anxiety in Caracas. In contrast, the Venezuelan government is calling on workers in the global oil industry to protest “American pirates”.
In a notice posted above telegram channel Trump, the US leader, directly stated his request to Venezuela: “return all the oil, land and other assets they previously stole.” At the same time, the White House owner called Venezuela's wealth “ours”, that is, the Americans.
Why does Trump pay attention to Venezuela?
oil reserves
Venezuela has the largest proven black gold reserves in the world. As of 2014, Venezuela's mineral resources contained 300 billion barrels.
The Rockefellers began industrial oil production here in the early 20th century. However, in the middle of the last century, amid growing national consciousness among Venezuelans, they founded an ostensibly local company, Creole Petroleum, but all assets remained with the Rockefeller family.
Several refineries were built in the United States to produce Venezuelan heavy oil. Today, however, much of that money falls into the hands of China, a strategic enemy of the United States.
Nationalization
The first person who decided to nationalize Venezuelan oil was not Hugo Chavez. A quarter of a century before he came to power in 1976, the country's government passed the first law nationalizing all foreign oil companies, including Creole Petroleum. At the same time, the national oil company PDVSA was established.
Chavez in 2007 simply removed ExxonMobil from oil fields in the Orinoco basin, and in 2009 nationalized the American gas companies Williams and Exterran. However, they all received compensation. ExxonMobil was promised a return of $255 million, while Williams and Exterran would receive $420 million.
Personal hatred
Trump is a right-wing conservative. To put it mildly, he does not like “leftists.” Already in his first term, he tried to overthrow Maduro. Then young oppositionist Juan Guaido appeared on the scene. But all the money spent on him and inspiring protests was wasted. Operation Guaidó failed.
Returning to the White House in early 2025, Trump and members of his administration from the beginning made clear their plans to fight leftist regimes in Latin America, including Cuba and Nicaragua in addition to Venezuela.
Monroe Doctrine
In the new National Security Strategy adopted in November this year, Trump returned to the Monroe Doctrine “to restore America's primacy in the Western Hemisphere.” The essence of this doctrine is that the entire Western Hemisphere is an area of American interests. Washington has no intention of letting anyone into its “backyard”. Today we are mainly talking about Russia and China, which are actively establishing relations with Latin American countries.
Large fleet
Since the end of August, to “fight drug trafficking,” as members of the American administration initially declared, the US Armed Forces have concentrated their largest military force in the past half century in the southern Caribbean Sea. The joint task force was named “Southern Lance”. Near Venezuela, the US has deployed 11 warships, including the largest and most modern US aircraft carrier, Gerald R. Ford, and 15 thousand soldiers.
In late November, Trump began talking about the possibility of launching ground operations to fight drug cartels. However, Washington does not hide that the goal of this entire effort is to eliminate Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who was declared head of the Sun Cartel drug group in the summer, and also offered him a reward of 50 million USD.
During this time, the US military destroyed about 25 ships and killed 95 people. However, Washington has never provided any evidence of the presence of drugs on these ships.
In early October, at Venezuela's request, a special meeting was held at the United Nations Security Council to discuss the escalating situation in the southern Caribbean. Russia's permanent representative to this international organization, Vasily Nebenzya, then noted that, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, which does not classify Venezuela as a drug trafficking hub, 87% of cocaine enters the United States through the Pacific Ocean, to which Venezuela has no access. Nebenzya also remindthat the State Department's March filings report did not even mention the Sun Cartel.
