In a statement on Truth Social, President Trump announced his most significant action against Venezuela to date by designating Nicolás Maduro’s regime as a foreign terrorist organization and imposing an immediate blockade on all sanctioned oil tankers entering or exiting the country.
Trump stated the designation was necessary due to “theft of our Assets, and many other reasons, including Terrorism, Drug Smuggling, and Human Trafficking.” He added that Venezuela is “completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America,” warning that “the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before — Until such time as they return to the United States of America all of the Oil, Land, and other Assets that they previously stole from us.”
The president further accused the “illegitimate Maduro Regime” of using stolen oil to finance “Drug Terrorism, Human Trafficking, Murder, and Kidnapping.” Venezuela condemned the announcement as a “reckless and serious threat,” while U.S. sanctions on Venezuela have intensified following Trump’s threats of land strikes on Venezuelan soil and recent actions targeting the country’s oil sector.
The administration’s move follows years of U.S. sanctions against Venezuela since 2005, when crude exports from state-owned Petróleos de Venezuela were blocked by the first Trump administration in 2019. President Biden had granted Chevron a permit to operate in Venezuela in 2022 to lower gas prices, but Trump revoked that license in March and later reissued it under conditions prohibiting payments to Maduro’s government.