Trump to Venezuela: Pay for O 12/18 06:17

   

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump demanded Wednesday that Venezuela 
return assets that it seized from U.S. oil companies years ago, justifying anew 
his announcement of a "blockade" against oil tankers traveling to or from the 
South American country that face American sanctions.

   Trump cited the lost U.S. investments in Venezuela when asked about his 
newest tactic in a pressure campaign against leader Nicols Maduro, suggesting 
his administration's moves are at least somewhat motivated by disputes over oil 
investments, along with accusations of drug trafficking. Some sanctioned 
tankers already are diverting away from Venezuela.

   "We're not going to be letting anybody going through who shouldn't be going 
through," Trump told reporters. "You remember they took all of our energy 
rights. They took all of our oil not that long ago. And we want it back. They 
took it -- they illegally took it."

   U.S. oil companies dominated Venezuela's petroleum industry until the 
country's leaders moved to nationalize the sector, first in the 1970s and again 
in the 21st century under Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Chvez. Compensation 
offered by Venezuela was deemed insufficient, and in 2014 an international 
arbitration panel ordered the country's socialist government to pay $1.6 
billion to ExxonMobil.

   While Venezuela's oil has long dominated relations with the U.S., the Trump 
administration has focused on Maduro's links to drug traffickers, accusing his 
government of facilitating the shipment of dangerous drugs into the U.S. In his 
social media post Tuesday night, Trump said Venezuela was using using oil to 
fund drug trafficking and other crimes.

   U.S. forces last week seized an oil tanker off Venezuela's coast amid a 
massive military buildup that includes the Navy's most advanced aircraft 
carrier.

   The military also has carried out a series of strikes on suspected drug 
boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean that have killed a total 
of at least 99 people, including four in a strike Wednesday. Those attacks have 
prompted questions from lawmakers and legal experts about their legal 
justification. Trump also has said he is considering strikes on land.

   Trump's talk of 'stolen assets'

   Stephen Miller, Trump's deputy chief of staff, likened Venezuela's move to 
nationalize its oil industry to a heist.

   "American sweat, ingenuity and toil created the oil industry in Venezuela," 
Miller wrote on social media Wednesday. "Its tyrannical expropriation was the 
largest recorded theft of American wealth and property. These pillaged assets 
were then used to fund terrorism and flood our streets with killers, 
mercenaries and drugs."

   Venezuela first moved to nationalize its oil industry in the 1970s, a 
process that expanded under Chavez, who nationalized hundreds of private 
businesses and foreign-owned assets, including oil projects run by ExxonMobil 
and ConocoPhillips. That led to the arbitration panel's 2014 order.

   "There is a case that can be made that Venezuela owes this money to Exxon. I 
don't think it's ever been paid," economist Philip Verleger said.

   Trump blamed his predecessors for not taking a harder line against Venezuela 
over the asset seizures.

   "They took it away because we had a president that maybe wasn't watching," 
Trump said Wednesday. "But they're not going to do that again. We want it back. 
They took our oil rights -- we had a lot of oil there. As you know they threw 
our companies out, and we want it back."

   Chevron has a waiver from the U.S. government for oil production in 
Venezuela, and the Texas-based oil giant says its operations have not been 
disrupted.

   Venezuela's debt to Chevron "has decreased substantially" since the 
company's license to resume exporting Venezuelan oil to the U.S. was first 
granted in 2022, said Francisco Monaldi, a Venezuelan oil expert at Rice 
University in Houston. He said the amount is not public.

   A new designation for Maduro's government?

   There was no change Wednesday to the list of foreign terrorist organizations 
after Trump said in his post that the "Venezuelan Regime" has been designated 
as one.

   Officials at several national security agencies were told not to take 
Trump's remarks about the designation literally and they should be treated as a 
figure of speech, according to a U.S. official involved in the discussions.

   That official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe internal 
interagency communications, also stressed that the "blockade" Trump announced 
applies only to previously sanctioned vessels against which certain actions are 
already authorized, such as the seizure last week.

   The State Department, which oversees the list, didn't respond to requests 
for clarification.

   Trump's Justice Department in 2020 indicted Maduro on narcoterrorism charges 
and U.S. authorities have alleged that Venezuela's leaders have profited from 
drug trafficking. Last month, the Trump administration designated a group 
linked to Maduro -- the Cartel de los Soles -- as a terrorist organization.

   Venezuela decries American 'piracy'

   Maduro called United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday 
for a conversation "regarding the current tensions in the region," U.N. deputy 
spokesman Farhan Haq said.

   "During the call, the secretary-general reaffirmed the United Nations' 
position on the need for member states to respect international law, 
particularly the United Nations Charter, exert restraint and de-escalate 
tensions to preserve regional stability," Haq said.

   Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvn Gil demanded in a letter to the U.N. 
Security Council, which was obtained by The Associated Press, that the U.S. 
immediately release the "kidnapped crew" and return the oil illegally 
confiscated on the high seas.

   In a second letter Wednesday, Venezuela's U.N. Ambassador Samuel Moncada 
called for an emergency meeting of the U.N.'s most powerful body to discuss 
"the ongoing U.S. aggression."

   Citing Trump's social media post, Moncada said, "this means that the U.S. 
government is claiming the world's largest oil reserves as its own, in what 
would be one of the greatest acts of plunder in human history."

   In addition to urging the Security Council to condemn the taking of the 
tanker, Gil urged the U.N.'s most powerful body for a written statement stating 
that it hasn't authorized actions against Venezuela "or against the 
international commercialization of its oil."

   While the strikes on alleged drug boats have raised questions about the use 
of military force, Trump's seizure of the tanker and other actions against 
sanctioned entities are consistent with past American policy, said retired U.S. 
Vice Admiral Robert Murrett, now a professor at Syracuse University.

   He also noted that from a military standpoint, seizing sanctioned oil 
tankers and imposing a blockade are far less risky than direct military 
confrontation.

   "U.S. policy supports peaceful, democratic transition in Venezuela," Murrett 
said. "If Maduro agrees tomorrow to step down and have a free and open 
election, I think we'd be delighted, Democrats and Republicans alike."