Breaking: Trump Orders ‘Largest Armada Ever Assembled in the History of South America’ to Blockade Venezuela
Less than a week after U.S. forces seized a sanctioned oil tanker off of Venezuela’s coast, President Donald Trump announced “a total and complete” blockade of tankers leaving or entering the country.
In a post Tuesday evening, Trump said that Venezuela was “completely surrounded by the largest Armada 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 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,” he said.
“For the theft of our Assets, and many other reasons, including Terrorism, Drug Smuggling, and Human Trafficking, the Venezuelan Regime has been designated a FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION. Therefore, today, I am ordering A TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE OF ALL SANCTIONED OIL TANKERS going into, and out of, Venezuela.
“The Illegal Aliens and Criminals that the Maduro Regime has sent into the United States during the weak and inept Biden Administration, are being returned to Venezuela at a rapid pace. America will not allow Criminals, Terrorists, or other Countries, to rob, threaten, or harm our Nation and, likewise, will not allow a Hostile Regime to take our Oil, Land, or any other Assets, all of which must be returned to the United States, IMMEDIATELY.”
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) December 16, 2025
Details on the blockade were still unclear as of Tuesday evening and were not included in Trump’s post. Reuters noted that Venezuela’s communications ministry did not reply to an immediate request for comment after Trump’s post.
However, earlier in the evening, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro made a comment that seemed to obliquely reference the situation.
“Imperialism and the fascist right want to colonize Venezuela to take over its wealth of oil, gas, gold, among other minerals. We have sworn absolutely to defend our homeland and in Venezuela peace will triumph,” Maduro said.
Venezuela, which has dealt with rampant poverty and hyperinflation under Maduro, relies on oil revenues to keep the socialist government afloat. While Venezuela has the largest proven oil reserves in the world — roughly 300 billion barrels, mostly in the Orinoco Belt — production has been crippled by both sanctions against the authoritarian regime and the regime’s mismanagement of the oil sector’s production infrastructure.
This has led Venezuela to do business with other sanctioned nations, including Iran. The oil tanker that was seized by the United States off Venezuela’s coast, the Skipper, was sanctioned under the Biden administration for ties to both Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Hezbollah, CBS News reported.
In addition, The New York Times reported that Skipper faked its location to hide its visits to countries under U.S. sanctions.
After apprehending the Skipper, Attorney General Pam Bondi said that the ship had been sanctioned “due to its involvement in an illicit oil shipping network supporting foreign terrorist organizations.”
In addition, Trump warned earlier this month that the campaign against Venezuela would be expanding, especially against narcoterrorists.
“We’re going to start doing those strikes on land, too,” he told reporters regarding strikes against drug boats that originated from Venezuela. “You know, the land is much easier … And we know the routes they take. We know everything about them. We know where they live. We know where the bad ones live. And we’re going to start that very soon, too.”
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