Venezuela blockade begins as Trump assembles ‘largest armada’: Live updates

President Donald Trump has ramped up pressure on Venezuela and its leader Nicolás Maduro by ordering a complete and total blockade of “sanctioned” oil tankers heading in and out of the South American country.

Trump took to Truth Social on Tuesday night to make the announcement, saying the “illegitimate Maduro regime” is using oil from “stolen oil fields” to “finance themselves, drug terrorism, human trafficking, murder, and kidnapping”.

In an opening slavo, the President said: “Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the history of South America.”

What To Know

• The escalation comes a week after U.S. forces seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela
• The Maduro regime responded to the blockade on Tuesday calling the move “utterly irrational” and alleging it was designed to steal “the wealth that belongs to our nation”
• Venezuela says it plans to denounce the move before the United Nations
• It follows weeks of U.S. military strikes on alleged drug boats in international waters that have killed at least 95 people

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