An oil-related statue is pictured in Caracas, Venezuela on January 5, 2026. (Photo by Javier Campos/Picture Alliance via Getty Images)
US President Donald Trump declared that Venezuela will hand over up to 50 million barrels of oil—which could be sold for around $3 billion.
US President Donald Trump claimed late Tuesday that Venezuela’s interim leadership will turn over to the United States as many as 50 million barrels of sanctioned oil to be sold at market price, part of a broader, unlawful administration effort to seize the South American nation’s natural resources.
Trump, who authorized the illegal US bombing of Venezuela and abduction of its president this past weekend, said he would control the proceeds of the sale—which could amount to $3 billion.
“Just straight-up piracy and extortion from the US president,” journalist Mehdi Hasan wrote in response.
Consistent with his administration’s conduct since the weekend attack that killed at least 75 people in Venezuela, Trump provided few details on how his scheme would work or how it would comply with domestic and international law, both of which the president has repeatedly disregarded and treated with contempt.
It’s also not clear that Delcy Rodríguez, Venezuela’s acting president and an ally of Nicolás Maduro, has agreed to Trump’s plan, which he announced on social media as his administration worked to entice US oil giants to take part in its effort to exploit the South American nation’s vast reserves.
Ahead of the US attack on Venezuela, the Trump administration imposed a blockade on sanctioned oil tankers approaching or leaving Venezuela, pushing the country closer to economic collapse. The New York Timesnoted Tuesday that Trump’s decision to “begin targeting tankers carrying Venezuelan crude to Asian markets had paralyzed the state oil company’s exports.”
“To keep the wells pumping, the state oil company, known as PDVSA, had been redirecting crude oil into storage tanks and turning tankers idling in ports into floating storage facilities,” the Times reported. During Trump’s first White House term, he banned US companies from working with PDVSA.
Trump wrote in his social media post Tuesday that the tens of millions of barrels of oil “will be taken by storage ships, and brought directly to unloading docks in the United States.”
“I have asked Energy Secretary Chris Wright to execute this plan, immediately,” Trump wrote.
The Trump administration is also pushing Venezuela’s interim leadership to meet a series of US demands before it can pump more oil, ABC Newsreported late Tuesday. Trump has illegally threatened to launch another attack on Venezuela, and target more of its politicians, if the country’s leadership doesn’t follow his administration’s orders.
According to ABC, the Trump administration has instructed Venezuela to “kick out China, Russia, Iran, and Cuba and sever economic ties.”
“Second, Venezuela must agree to partner exclusively with the US on oil production and favor America when selling heavy crude oil,” ABC added, citing unnamed sources. “According to one person, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told lawmakers in a private briefing on Monday that he believes the US can force Venezuela’s hand because its existing oil tankers are full. Rubio also told lawmakers that the US estimates that Caracas has only a couple of weeks before it will become financially insolvent without the sale of its oil reserves.”
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Graffiti that reads in Spanish: ‘Trump: murderer, kidnapper, pedophile, damned,’ (left), and ‘Long live peace,’ covers a kiosk during a march to demand President Nicolas Maduro’s return, in Caracas, Venezuela, January 6, 2026
THE United States is demanding that Venezuela cut all its economic ties with China, Russia, Iran and Cuba, according to a US news report.
This comes as President Donald Trump insists that the US is poised to sell up to 50 million barrels of Venezuelan oil.
ABC News reported on Tuesday that Washington had sent a demand to Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodriguez for her government to “kick out China, Russia, Iran, and Cuba and sever economic ties” with those nations.
The report also said the White House was demanding that Caracas agree to “exclusive co-operation with the US in the field of oil production.”
…
Mr Trump claimed that the US would assume interim governance of Venezuela and that Washington would secure compensation from Caracas for US companies affected by the previous nationalisation of the country’s oil industry.
The far-right president said on Tuesday that Venezuela would provide 30 million to 50 million barrels of oil to the US, claiming proceeds from the sale of this oil would be used “to benefit the people” of both countries.
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OUTRAGE: Protesters hold signs calling for the release of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro outside Manhattan Federal Court before his arraignment in New York, on Monday January 5
When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Western outrage was absolute. Yet today, the tone is markedly more subdued regarding US aggression against Venezuela. The manner in which the media and politicians frame this invasion exposes a profound ideological double standard, writes MARC VANDEPITTE
… During the invasion of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky was immediately crowned the ultimate champion of democracy. Pre-war criticisms of his policies were airbrushed from the Western press as if they had never existed.
It became taboo to mention the banning of opposition parties or the relentless war in the Donbass, which claimed 14,000 lives between 2014 and 2022. The tragedy in Odessa, where some 40 trade unionists were burned alive, did not fit the heroic narrative and was subsequently filtered out of the coverage.
In Venezuela’s case, the opposite is happening. Media attention is focused almost exclusively on how “evil” Maduro supposedly is.
Every report on the US invasion is accompanied by a litany of his alleged failures. The narrative relies entirely on interpretations and exaggerations regarding the lack of democracy under his rule.
The White House attempts to justify the abduction by linking Maduro to drug cartels. However, this argument holds no water: the primary cocaine routes run through Colombia and Ecuador. Yet the media frequently “forgets“ to mention this, thereby legitimising military aggression in the eyes of the public.
…
Through this euphemistic framing and the constant demonisation of Maduro, a brutal military aggression is being de facto legitimised.
Following the double standards applied to Ukraine and Gaza, the West is losing its last shred of credibility with the global South. The “rules-based order” is being definitively unmasked as a selective instrument of power.
But there is more at stake. With this attack, Trump is testing the limits of his imperial ambitions. Because of Europe’s appallingly weak stance, Washington has received the signal that it can act with total impunity.
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The high-level diplomatic meeting was marked by two clearly distinguishable positions: those who supported Washington’s actions and those who rejected them, claiming they violated international law and the South American country’s national sovereignty.
Rosemary DiCarlo, representative of the Secretary-General, said that the actions could generate greater instability in the nation: “We meet at a grave time following the January 3 United States military action in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.” In addition, DiCarlo, following the statements of Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, emphasized that the attack constituted a military aggression that violates the UN Charter.
Future of the UN Charter at stake
Renowned scholar Jeffrey D. Sachs, president of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, also addressed the session and highlighted that beyond the immediate violation of Venezuela’s sovereignty, the US actions constitute an existential threat to the entire UN system. “The issue before the Council today is not the character of the government of Venezuela. The issue is whether any Member State—by force, coercion, or economic strangulation—has the right to determine Venezuela’s political future or to exercise control over its affairs. This question goes directly to Article 2(4) of the United Nations Charter, which prohibits the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state.”
Sachs implored the UNSC to take action and call on the US to end its military threats and attacks against Venezuela, end its naval blockade, and withdraw its military forces from the Caribbean which have been amassing since August.
Sachs affirmed that, “Peace and the survival of humanity depend on whether the United Nations Charter remains a living instrument of international law or is allowed to wither into irrelevance.”
Neocolonialism, illegalityand imperialism: condemnation of the attack
Samuel Moncada, Venezuela’s representative to the Security Council, strongly condemned the US military actions against his country. He stated that what happened on January 3 constituted an “illegitimate armed attack” that lacked legal justification and violated the UN Charter, the Geneva Convention, and the principles of sovereignty. The situation also calls into question the “credibility of international law,” as it seems that “the law is optional” when it is one country and not another that “kidnaps a head of state”.
China
Along the same lines, Fu Cong, representative of China, said: “[China] strongly condemns the unilateral, illegal, and bullying acts against Venezuela.” “[The United States] wantonly tramples upon Venezuela’s sovereignty, security, and legitimate rights and interests,” he said. He also called on the United States to return to dialogue to reach a peaceful solution.
Cuba
Cuba, for its part, categorically rejected the “imperialist and fascist aggressions” of the United States and warned of “criminal and hegemonic plans” that Washington is carrying out. In addition, the Cuban representative stated that the United States commits acts of economic suffocation and maritime terrorism against the governments it seeks to overthrow, which is in flagrant contradiction with the UN Charter and international law. He asserted that the objective behind the “kidnapping” of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, is to gain “control over Venezuela’s land and natural resources.”
Russia
Likewise, the representative of the Russian Federation, Vassily Nebenzia, condemned the “armed aggression” against Venezuela for violating international law and demanded the immediate release of the “legitimately-elected president”, Nicolás Maduro. He also called for an end to fear and hypocrisy in the face of US actions that seek to justify “such an egregious act of aggression [out of fear of the] American global gendarme.” Finally, he stated that the actions of the United States constitute new examples of “neocolonialism and imperialism”.
Colombia
For her part, Leonor Zalabata said that her country, Colombia, strongly condemns the actions of January 3, and affirmed that the use of force, according to the UN Charter, can only be used in exceptional situations, such as self-defense, but never to take political control of another state, as Trump said he would do with Venezuela. The attacks, she added, could lead to a large-scale migration that would require significant budget allocations to care for the migrants. Colombia shares thousands of kilometers of border with Venezuela, and Trump has directly threatened Colombian President Gustavo Petro with carrying out a similar attack on Colombian territory.
Mexico
Mexico also strongly criticized the military attack and stated that such actions “should not be allowed” because they jeopardize multilateralism and international law. It called on members to abandon double standards and “act decisively” in respect for the national sovereignty of the peoples of each country, who are the only ones authorized to decide “their destiny”.
Brazil
Brazil also joined in the criticism. Representative Sérgio França stated that “South America is a zone of peace,” and therefore his country rejects military intervention in Venezuela, which “crossed an unacceptable line”, and violates the UN Charter and international law.
The violation of international law: moderate criticism of the United States
Several members of the Security Council also criticized Washington’s actions, albeit indirectly or less forcefully.
United Kingdom
Among them was the United Kingdom, whose representative, James Kariuki, stated that his country reaffirms its commitment to international law and the principles of the United Nations. However, he also criticized the actions of the Maduro government for allegedly increasing poverty, repressing the opposition, and the illegitimacy of his government.
Panama
Along the same lines, Panama’s representative, Eloy Alfaro de Alba, condemned the US attack. He stated that US military actions could have very serious consequences for peace in the Latin American region. He also stressed that his country, which suffered a US invasion between 1989 and 1990, reaffirms its respect for the sovereignty of nations. However, he also took the time to criticize what he called Maduro’s illegitimate and authoritarian government, which he said had eroded the democratic system after the 2024 elections.
Chile
Chile was another country that criticized the US military actions “unilaterally in Venezuela,” according to the South American country’s representative, Paula Narváez. “Chile does not recognize the Maduro regime, but serious human rights violations… cannot be resolved militarily and can only be addressed through peaceful, gradual, and incisive processes.”
“There is no war”: in defense of the US attack
For his part, US representative Michael Waltz defended his government’s actions and stated that “there is no war against Venezuela or its people”. On the contrary, Waltz argued that the attack was “a surgical law enforcement operation to apprehend two indicted fugitives, [the] narco-terrorist Nicolás Maduro and Celia Flores.”
Argentina
Another country that openly supported the attack was Argentina. Its representative, Francisco Tropepi, welcomed Trump’s “decisive action” and stated that it was justified by Maduro’s alleged involvement in drug trafficking. However, he called for the situation to be normalized and for institutional order to be restored as soon as possible.
Latvia
Along the same lines, Latvia’s representative, Sanita Pavļuta-Deslandes, indirectly justified the radical measure taken by the United States when she told the Security Council that Maduro’s government had violated human rights and encouraged drug trafficking and corruption.
The international community and international law are under threat
However, despite some direct and indirect support, the United States’ actions have not been well received by the majority of the United Nations Security Council. Several of its members understand that if such actions are not strongly condemned, they could pave the way for similar military actions in other parts of the world.
Asian and African countries fear a new wave of colonialism in their lands, and Europeans, many of whom do not support Maduro, see expansionist arguments looming over Greenland, which have not been heard in Europe for centuries.
Thus, the international community and international law (both structured after the defeat of the Axis in 1945) face an immense challenge following the attack on Venezuela. Whether they will emerge stronger or weakened will become clear in the coming months.
Original article by Pablo Meriguet republished from peoples dispatch under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.
Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
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A composite image, assembled from left to right with photos depicting events from the Western world’s agenda in 2025 alongside the humanitarian tragedy unfolding in Gaza, reflects two contrasting faces of the world in Ankara, Turkiye on December 29, 2025. [Stringer, Khames Alrefi – Anadolu Agency]
President Donald Trump is once again surrounded by a cast of political lightweights and constitutionally hollow obedient courtiers on one end, and Israel-first operatives on the other. They run US foreign policy where constitutional restraints are subverted, and American power is used as a blunt instrument to advance agendas that are neither democratic nor American. This is not chaos or mismanagement, its planned.
What is being presented as “drug enforcement” against Venezuela’s president is a premeditated act of war orchestrated, in part, to advance Israeli strategic interests and the profits of multinational oil corporations. It is a manipulation of US power in service of foreign actors, with consequences that threaten global stability and undermines international law.
The most disastrous US foreign policy failures of the past quarter century in Iraq, Libya, and Syria were not driven by American interests. They were Israeli wars, sold to American officials through pressure, cooked intelligence, and a compliant political class.
Iraq war was designed in the dens of the pentagon by Israel-first neocons who fabricated the weapons of mass deception to drag America into a made-for-Israel war. Libya was obliterated under the pretext of humanitarian intervention. Syria was turned into a prolonged proxy battlefield. The promised prosperity, stability, democracy, or security never materialized. One thing materialized: delivering Israel’s objectives with American money and the lives of American soldiers.
Today’s war threats against Iran are following the same script. A war manufactured carefully and cynically by Israel-first American Jewish billionaires such as Miriam Adelson, and journalist advocates bought and employed by Larry Allison. These actors have exerted extraordinary influence over Trump, and even audaciously calling for violating the U.S. Constitution by floating a third term run, all to serve of Israeli strategic interests.
Trump branded Maduro a “drug trafficker” to justify his kidnapping, while pardoning Juan Orlando Hernández, a former Honduran president and a US-indicted cocaine kingpin who ran a narco-state shipping hundreds of tons of cocaine into the United States.
Could it be because Hernández was pro-Israel, but Maduro was not? Maduro dared to condemn Israeli genocide in Gaza and its occupation of the West Bank.
This has nothing to do with American interest. It is another Israeli account to settle with the president of Venezuela. These wishes were expressed by Benjamin Netanyahu—an internationally indicted war criminal welcomed in the White House—during his interview with Fox News just three days before the illegal American operation in Venezuela. Not surprising, Israel was possibly the only country who praised Trump for kidnapping Maduro.
If Trump can be the bully of the “neighborhood” and topple or coerce regimes that do not comply with his political and financial desires. Why not for Russia or China in their alleys? What stops China from “trumping up” charges in its courts against Taiwanese political leaders? What stops Russia from kidnapping political figures it deems hostile under the guise of law enforcement?
In fact, China has a far stronger historical, geographic, and political claim to Taiwan than the United States has to Venezuela more than 2,500 miles from American shores. Russia, likewise, has greater strategic ties to countries on its backyard than Washington does in Latin America.
Enforcing international law by local courts only leads to the collapse of international norms. Countries should not be able to use its legal system to supersede international law and UN Charter. The International Criminal Court (ICC), is the only body that can indict and issue arrest warrants. Claiming a law enforcement operation does not make it lawful, especially when the White House welcomes a war criminal and refuses to enforce the ICC arrest warrant.
Unfortunately, the attempt to topple Maduro is not a one off in Latin America. Washington has a bloody history of intervening and regime change, propping dictators, and removing democratically elected leaders. Unlike this case, most were done under the CIA clandestine operations. To name just few, and not in any order: The 1964 Brazilian coup d’état, the 1971 coup in Bolivia, Chile military coup in 1973. The CIA coups in Ecuador between 1960 and 1963, the 1954 Guatemalan coup d’état, 1961, the Bay of Pigs invasion in Cuba, and the 1983 invasion of Grenada.
Israel’s influence over US foreign policy has become so pervasive that America is perceived as a rattle saber wielded to settle Israeli scores with other countries, sanctioning the ICC, and even suppressing local dissent against Israel. By conflating American national interests with Israel’s strategic objectives, Washington is inviting international chaos, and serving Israel by diverting global attention from Israeli war crimes in Palestine.
And the American taxpayer is paying for all of it. Since 2001, the US has spent more than eight trillion on made-for-Israel wars. This is enough to give 32 million American families free homes ($250,000 each).
Not passing a judgment on the legitimacy of Maduro or his style of governance, that is for the Venezuelan people alone to decide. But an administration that openly expresses admirations to “friendly” dictators, where free press and elections do not exist, has neither the credibility nor the moral standing to decide on legitimate systems of government.
Kidnapping Maduro from his bedroom is not about democracy. It is an exercise of power on behalf of oil profiteers and Israeli strategic interests. The United States does not advance freedom in Latin America by violating international law, nor does it serve Americans when the US army is outsourced to serve the desires of the Israeli lobby, Zionist implants in the administration, and Israel-first donors.
The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.
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Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
Graffiti that reads in Spanish: ‘Trump: murderer, kidnapper, pedophile, damned,’ (left), and ‘Long live peace,’ covers a kiosk during a march to demand President Nicolas Maduro’s return, in Caracas, Venezuela, January 6, 2026
