US President Donald Trump announced Tuesday evening that he is ordering “a total and complete blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers going into, and out of, Venezuela.” This is an act of war aimed at devastating the Venezuelan economy and overthrowing the government of President Nicolás Maduro.

Trump’s blockade and the series of murders American imperialism has carried out on the high seas off the coast of Venezuela are part of a campaign aimed at subjugating Venezuela, and all of Latin America, to colonial slavery in order to seize their energy and mineral resources.

In his statement on Truth Social, Trump declared: “Venezuela is 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.”

Trump demanded that Venezuela “return to the United States of America all of the Oil, Land, and other Assets that they previously stole from us.” He wrote that he had designated the Venezuelan government a “Foreign Terrorist Organization.”

Trump’s statement dispenses with his earlier pretense that the US military campaign is aimed at combating drug trafficking. Trump is openly demanding that Venezuela hand over its oil and “land” to the United States in an act of colonial plunder.

The United States has no claim to any Venezuelan territory or resources. Trump’s claim that Venezuela “stole” US assets is a fraud: The country has stolen nothing from the United States. Trump acts as a gangster running a protection racket, but he speaks on behalf of a criminal oligarchy that believes that it can steal anything by force.

The administration also announced Tuesday that Trump will deliver a national address Wednesday evening, though there was no indication as to the specific content of his planned remarks.

Trump’s blockade announcement follows a week of escalating threats. In an interview with Politico last Tuesday, Trump declared that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s “days are numbered.” On Friday, Trump announced that US ground attacks in the Caribbean would begin “pretty soon.”

In an interview with Vanity Fair published earlier Tuesday, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles made clear that the Trump administration’s attacks on boats off the coast of Venezuela, far from being an effort to stop the flow of drugs, aim to facilitate regime change. “He wants to keep on blowing boats up until Maduro cries uncle,” Wiles said. “And people way smarter than me on that say that he will.”

Trump’s political allies are openly calling for regime change. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said Tuesday: “If he’s still standing when this is over, this is a fatal, major mistake to our standing in the world. If, after all this, Maduro is still in power, that’s the worst possible signal you can send to Russia, China, Iran.”

The blockade announced by Trump would cut off Venezuela’s primary source of revenue. The US hopes that such a blockade would devastate Venezuela’s economy, which depends on overseas oil sales, primarily to China. Venezuela holds the world’s largest proven oil reserves—more than 300 billion barrels.

The Pentagon has deployed more than 15,000 troops, a dozen warships including the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, F-35 stealth fighters and EA-18G Growler electronic warfare jets to the region—the largest US military mobilization in the Caribbean since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. The administration has already established a de facto blockade of Venezuela: US forces seized a Venezuelan oil tanker last week and have killed at least 95 people in 25 separate strikes on boats since early September.

The US economic strangulation of Venezuela is already taking effect. Following the seizure of the oil tanker last week, an armada of four supertankers originally headed for Venezuela reversed course. Venezuela’s supply of dollars—almost all tied to crude sales—has fallen 30 percent in the first 10 months of 2025. Annual inflation is expected to top 400 percent by year’s end.

Trump’s threats against Venezuela are part of a broader strategy outlined in the his administration’s National Security Strategy, released last month. The document proclaims a “Trump Corollary” to the Monroe Doctrine, declaring that the United States will “deny non-Hemispheric competitors the ability to ... own or control strategically vital assets, in our Hemisphere.” The strategy identifies Latin America’s “strategic resources”—including oil and critical minerals—as targets for “acquisition and investment opportunities for American companies.”

The Democratic Party has refused to oppose the administration’s war preparations. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, asked last week whether he opposes regime change in Venezuela, replied: “You know, obviously, if Maduro would just flee on his own, everyone would like that.”

Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, appeared on ABC’s This Week on Sunday. When host Martha Raddatz asked Warner whether he agreed with Trump’s “effort to oust the dictator” Maduro, Warner replied: “I agree that the Venezuelan people want Maduro gone.”

Trump’s announcement Tuesday came hours after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth refused to release video footage of the September 2 missile strike in the Caribbean that killed two people clinging to the wreckage of a destroyed boat.

“In keeping with long-standing Department of Defense policy, of course we’re not going to release a top-secret, full, unedited video of that to the general public,” Hegseth told reporters after delivering a classified briefing to senators.

Since early September, US forces have killed at least 95 people in 25 separate strikes on boats the administration claims are smuggling drugs. On Monday alone, the military announced it had struck three more vessels in the Eastern Pacific, killing eight people.

The September 2 strike consisted of four separate attacks on a single vessel. The first strike killed nine people on board. As the smoke cleared, two survivors could be seen clinging to the hull of the capsized boat. A second strike killed both survivors. The third and fourth strikes sank the vessel.

After the meeting, Schumer did not call for the video to be released to the public, only for senators to view it in a classified setting. Last week, the Democratic congressional leadership joined with Republicans to pass the largest military budget in US history—over $1 trillion when combined with supplemental funding.