{"id":45674,"date":"2025-12-18T14:02:14","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T22:02:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=45674"},"modified":"2025-12-18T14:02:15","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T22:02:15","slug":"unquestionably-an-act-of-war-trump-declares-naval-blockade-against-venezuela","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2025\/12\/18\/unquestionably-an-act-of-war-trump-declares-naval-blockade-against-venezuela\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Unquestionably an Act of War\u2019: Trump Declares Naval Blockade Against Venezuela"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Oil<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Oil tankers are seen anchored in Lake Maracaibo after loading crude oil at Venezuela\u2019s Bajo Grande Refinery port on December 4, 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0(Photo by Jose Bula Urrutia\/UCG\/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is the Iraq War 2.0 with a South American flavor to it,\u201d warned one Democratic senator.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Jake Johnson<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dec 17, 2025 (CommonDreams.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

US President Donald Trump<\/a> late Tuesday declared a blockade on \u201call sanctioned oil<\/a> tankers\u201d approaching and leaving Venezuela<\/a>, a major escalation in what\u2019s widely seen as an accelerating march to war with the South American country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u201ctotal and complete blockade,\u201d Trump wrote<\/a> on his social media<\/a> platform, will only be lifted when Venezuela returns to the US \u201call of the Oil, Land, and other Assets that they previously stole from us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RECOMMENDED…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Donald<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Trump Says Ground Attack on Venezuela Imminent\u2014Plus Colombia, Mexico Also in US Crosshairs<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Venezuelan<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Venezuela Condemns US \u2018Piracy\u2019 as Trump White House Signals It Will Seize More Oil Vessels<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cVenezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America,\u201d Trump wrote, referring to the massive US military<\/a> buildup in the Caribbean. \u201cIt will only get bigger, and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The government of Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro, which has mobilized its military<\/a> in response to the US president\u2019s warmongering, denounced Trump\u2019s comments as a \u201cgrotesque threat\u201d aimed at \u201cstealing the riches that belong to our homeland.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The US-based anti-war group CodePink said in a statement that \u201cTrump\u2019s assertion that Venezuela must \u2018return\u2019 oil, land, and other assets to the United States<\/a> exposes the true objective\u201d of his military campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cVenezuela did not steal anything from the United States. What Trump describes as \u2018theft\u2019 is Venezuela\u2019s lawful assertion of sovereignty over its own natural resources and its refusal to allow US corporations to control its economy,\u201d said CodePink. \u201cA blockade, a terrorist designation, and a military buildup are steps toward war. Congress must act immediately to stop this escalation, and the international community must reject this lawless threat.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The announced naval blockade\u2014an act of aggression<\/a> under international law\u2014came a week after the Trump administration<\/a> seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela and made clear that it intends to intercept more<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

US Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas), one of the leaders of a war powers resolution<\/a> aimed at preventing the Trump administration from launching a war on Venezuela without congressional approval, said Tuesday that \u201ca naval blockade is unquestionably an act of war.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA war that the Congress never authorized and the American people do not want,\u201d Castro added, noting that a vote on his resolution is set for Thursday. \u201cEvery member of the House of Representatives will have the opportunity to decide if they support sending Americans into yet another regime change war.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is absolutely an effort to get us involved in a war in Venezuela.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Human rights<\/a> organizations have accused the Republican-controlled Congress of abdicating its responsibilities as the Trump administration takes belligerent and illegal actions in international waters and against Venezuela directly<\/a>, claiming without evidence to be combating drug trafficking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last month, Senate Republicans\u2014some of whom are publicly clamoring<\/a> for the US military to overthrow Maduro\u2019s government\u2014voted down a Venezuela war powers resolution. Two GOP<\/a> senators, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, joined Democrats in supporting the resolution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dylan Williams, vice president for government affairs at the Center for International Policy, wrote<\/a> Tuesday that \u201cthe White House<\/a> minimized Republican \u2018yes\u2019 votes by promising that Trump would seek Congress\u2019 authorization before initiating hostilities against Venezuela itself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTrump today broke that promise to his own party\u2019s lawmakers by ordering a partial blockade on Venezuelan ships,\u201d wrote Williams. \u201cA blockade, including a partial one, definitively constitutes an act of war. Trump is starting a war against Venezuela without congressional authorization.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Ruben Gallego<\/a> (D-Ariz.) warned<\/a> in a television appearance late Monday that members of the Trump administration are \u201cgoing to do everything they can to get us into this war.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is the\u00a0Iraq War<\/a>\u00a02.0 with a South American flavor to it,\u201d he added. \u201cThis is absolutely an effort to get us involved in a war in Venezuela.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jake Johnson<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jake Johnson is a senior editor and staff writer for Common Dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Bio ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Oil tankers are seen anchored in Lake Maracaibo after loading crude oil at Venezuela\u2019s Bajo Grande Refinery port on December 4, 2025. \u00a0(Photo by Jose Bula Urrutia\/UCG\/Universal Images Group via Getty Images) \u201cThis is the Iraq War 2.0 with a South American flavor to it,\u201d warned one Democratic senator. Jake… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45674"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45674"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45674\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45675,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45674\/revisions\/45675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}