“All our support to the brotherly Venezuelan people and their president, Nicolás Maduro.

The fascists will not prevail. Long live Bolivar. Long live Chavez,” the Minister wrote on his social media account.

The statement responds to the message published this Tuesday by the US president on the Truth Social network, in which he declared Venezuela a foreign terrorist organization and ordered a total blockade of all oil tankers entering or leaving the South American country.

The measure, adopted a few days after the seizure of an oil tanker off the Venezuelan coast, significantly increases Washington’s pressure on the Bolivarian government.

In his letter, Trump accused Caracas of drug trafficking, terrorism, and the illegal appropriation of U.S. assets, and asserted that Venezuela is “completely surrounded by the largest navy ever assembled in the history of South America.”

He also warned that he would intensify the military encirclement and promised “shocks like never before” until, according to his threat, oil, land, and other assets allegedly “stolen” from Venezuela are “returned”—allusions that the Venezuelan government has denounced as unfounded and colonialist.

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