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The President of the United States, Donald Trump, stated this Wednesday that Venezuela took “all the oil” and that Washington wants it “back.”
When discussing a naval blockade imposed on Venezuela, Trump said: “We will not allow anyone who shouldn’t pass… they took it illegally, and we want it back,” he stated.
The statements were made in a context of rising tension surrounding Venezuela, following Trump's announcement this Tuesday of a total oil blockade against the country and a tightening of deportations, in a message published on his social media platform Truth Social, where he accused Nicolás Maduro's regime of funding criminal activities with energy resources.
"Today I order a complete and total blockade of all authorized oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela," Trump stated in that post, where he asserted that Venezuelan oil would be used to finance "narcoterrorism, human trafficking, murder, and kidnapping."
In his statement, he added that Venezuela is “completely surrounded” by military forces and warned that the pressure will increase until the country returns to the United States “all the oil, land, and other assets” that he claimed were previously stolen.
Meanwhile, conservative commentator Tucker Carlson suggested that Trump could use his speech to the nation this Wednesday to announce a significant escalation.
In the Judging Freedom podcast, Carlson claimed that lawmakers were informed about the possibility of a war against Venezuela and stated that it "could be announced" in the speech "tonight at 9 o'clock."
However, Carlson himself tempered his statement: “Who knows if that will really happen… I never want to exaggerate what I know,” he said, noting that his information came from what was communicated to him by “a member of Congress.”
Regarding that message to the nation, Trump previewed that his central idea would be that his administration “inherited a disaster” and that the country “is going to be stronger than ever.”
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