Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro warned on Tuesday of the risk of a "new Vietnam" after US President Donald Trump ordered a "total and complete blockade" of sanctioned oil tankers leaving or entering Venezuela.
Speaking at the Constituent Assembly of the Working Class in the capital Caracas, Maduro criticized US military activity in the Caribbean and the recent seizure of a Venezuelan-owned oil tanker.
He accused Washington of inventing pretexts to justify escalating pressure on Venezuela, saying the US aims to "create another Libya, Afghanistan or Iraq."
“We do not want a new Vietnam,” Maduro said. “Venezuela has protested, fought and defeated this multidimensional aggression for 25 weeks.”
He said the American campaign uses tactics ranging from what he described as "psychological terrorism" to "piracy."
"Defending free trade and peace in the Caribbean and Venezuela is the defense of the entire world," Maduro said, calling on navy and oil workers around the world to protest against the US actions.
Maduro said the US seized a civilian ship carrying 1.9 million barrels of oil that had been legally purchased from Venezuela.
"We will be millions telling the imperialists that piracy cannot be accepted," he said.
In a post on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump said Tuesday that "Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest army ever assembled in the history of South America."
"It will only get bigger and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before - until they return to the United States of America all the oil, land and other assets that they had previously stolen from us," he added.
Trump also said his administration had declared Maduro's government a foreign terrorist organization, arguing that the blockade would prevent what he described as funding for drug trafficking, human trafficking and the theft of American assets.
He added that the US is rapidly deporting "illegal aliens and criminals" who he said were sent by the Maduro government and demanded that Venezuela immediately return "oil, land or any other assets" it has taken.
Oil prices rose on Wednesday as analysts warned that the blockade could disrupt supplies.
© BalkansWeb
Information source @BalkanWeb: Read more at: the world today www.botasot.al
