MEXICO CITY — President Trump's order for a partial blockade of oil tankers going to and from Venezuela and his claim that Caracas stole “oil, land and other assets” from the United States mark a significant escalation of Washington's relentless campaign against the government of President Nicolás Maduro.
When asked about Venezuela on Wednesday, Trump said the United States would “get land, oil rights and everything we had.”
“We want him back,” he said without further details. It was unclear whether Trump planned to say more about Venezuela in a televised address to the nation Wednesday night.
The blockade, which aims to cripple the key component of Venezuela's faltering, oil-dependent economy, comes as the Trump administration has bolstered military forces in the Caribbean, blown up more than two dozen ships allegedly transporting illicit drugs in both the Caribbean and the Pacific, and threatened military strikes against Venezuela and neighboring Colombia.
“Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Navy ever assembled in the history of South America,” Trump said in a rambling post Tuesday night on his social media site. “It will only get bigger, and the impact they will receive will be like nothing they have seen before.”
Not long after Trump announced the blockade Tuesday night, Venezuela's government denounced the move and its other efforts as an attempt to “steal the wealth that belongs to our people.”
President of Venezuela's National Assembly Jorge Rodríguez is flanked by First Vice President Pedro Infante, left, and Second Vice President América Pérez during an extraordinary session at the Federal Legislative Palace in Caracas on December 17, 2025.
(Juan Barreto/AFP/Getty Images)
Leaders of other Latin American nations called for calm and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, after a phone call with Maduro, called on UN members to “exercise restraint and reduce tensions to preserve regional stability.”
Also on Wednesday, Trump received a rare pushback from the Republican-dominated Congress, where some lawmakers are pressuring the administration to reveal more information about its deadly attacks on suspected drug ships.
The Senate gave final approval to a $900 billion defense policy package that, among other things, would require the administration to reveal to lawmakers specific orders behind the ship attacks along with previously unreleased videos of the deadly attacks. If the administration fails to comply, the bill would withhold a quarter of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's travel budget.
The bill's passage came a day after Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio briefed lawmakers on Capitol Hill about the U.S. military campaign. The meetings left lawmakers with a mixed reaction, with Republicans largely supporting the campaign and Democrats expressing concern about it.
The White House has said its military campaign in Venezuela is aimed at curbing drug trafficking, but U.S. DEA data shows Venezuela is a relatively minor player in narcotics trafficking bound for the United States.
Trump also declared that the South American country had been designated a “foreign terrorist organization.” That would apparently make Venezuela the first nation to receive a classification normally reserved for armed groups considered hostile to the United States or its allies. The consequences remain unclear for Venezuela.
A U.S. Air Force Boeing C-17 Globemaster takes off from José Aponte de la Torre Airport, formerly Roosevelt Roads Naval Station, in Ceiba, Puerto Rico.
(Miguel J. Rodríguez Carrillo / AFP/Getty Images)
Regional responses to Trump's threats highlight new ideological fault lines in Latin America, where right-wing governments in recent years have won elections in Chile, Argentina and Ecuador.
Leftist leaders from the region's two most populous nations, Brazil and Mexico, have called for restraint in Venezuela.
“Regardless of what one thinks about the Venezuelan government or the Maduro presidency, Mexico's position must always be: no to intervention, no to foreign meddling,” Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Wednesday, calling on the United Nations to seek a peaceful solution and avoid any bloodshed.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has also urged Trump to move away from confrontation. “The power of words can overcome the power of weapons,” Lula said he told Trump recently, offering to facilitate talks with the Maduro government.
But Chile's right-wing president-elect, José Antonio Kast, said he supports a change of government in Venezuela, saying it would reduce migration from Venezuela to other nations in the region.
Surrounded by security, Chile's president-elect José Antonio Kast, second from right, leaves after a meeting with Argentine President Javier Milei in Buenos Aires on December 16, 2025.
(Rodrigo Abd/Associated Press)
“If someone is going to do it, let it be clear that it solves a gigantic problem for us and for all of Latin America, for all of South America, and even for the countries of Europe,” said Kast, referring to Venezuelan immigration.
In his post on Tuesday, Trump said he had ordered a “complete blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela.” Although the measure is potentially devastating for Venezuela's economy, the fact that the blockade will affect only oil tankers already sanctioned by US authorities gives Venezuela some breathing room, at least for now.
Experts estimated that between a third and half of the tankers transporting crude to and from Venezuela are part of the so-called dark fleet of sanctioned tankers. The ships usually transport crude oil from Venezuela and Iran, two nations subject to strong trade and economic bans by the United States.
However, experts said even a partial blockade will be a big blow to Venezuela's weak economy, which is already reeling under more than a decade of US sanctions. And Washington can continue to increase the list of sanctioned oil tankers.
“The United States can continue to sanction more oil tankers, and that would leave Venezuela almost without income,” said David A. Smilde, a Venezuela expert at Tulane University. “That would probably cause a famine in the country.”
The growing pressure, analysts said, will likely mean that the dwindling number of companies willing to take the risk of transporting Venezuelan crude will raise their prices, putting more pressure on Caracas. Buyers in China and elsewhere will also likely demand price cuts to buy Venezuelan oil.
Trump has said Maduro must go because he is a “narcoterrorist” and heads the “Cartel of the Suns,” which the White House calls a drug trafficking syndicate. Trump has offered a $50 million bounty on Maduro's head. Experts say the Cartel of the Suns is not a functioning cartel, but rather a shorthand term for Venezuelan military officers who have been involved in drug trafficking for decades, long before Maduro or his predecessor and mentor, the late Hugo Chavez, took office.
(Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg/Getty Images)
In his remarks Tuesday, Trump denounced the nationalization of the Venezuelan oil industry, a process that began in the 1970s, when Caracas was a strong ally of Washington.
Stephen Miller, Trump's National Security Advisor, echoed Trump's argument that Venezuela “stole” American assets, stating in
Among those believed to be driving Trump's efforts to overthrow Maduro is Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants in Florida. The secretary of state has long been an outspoken opponent of the communist governments in Havana and Caracas. Venezuelan oil has helped the economies of leftist governments in both Cuba and Nicaragua.
Christopher Sabatini, senior researcher for Latin America at the Chatham House think tank, said Rubio has been on a long-term campaign to overthrow Maduro.
“He has his own political project,” Sabatini said. “He wants to get rid of the dictators of Venezuela and Cuba.”
McDonnell and Linthicum reported from Mexico City and Ceballos from Washington. Special correspondent Mery Mogollón in Caracas contributed to this report.
