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Venezuela to defend its natural, energy resources, vice president vows

At an OPEC+ virtual ministerial meeting, she read out Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s address to OPEC Secretary General Haitham Al Ghais and OPEC and non-OPEC member countries

CARACAS, November 30. /TASS/. Venezuela condemns the United States’ illegal actions and will defend its natural energy resources, Vice President Delcy Rodriguez said.

At an OPEC+ virtual ministerial meeting, she read out Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s address to OPEC Secretary General Haitham Al Ghais and OPEC and non-OPEC member countries. The statement strongly condemned the United States’ illegal actions geared "to seize Venezuela’s vast oil reserves, the largest on the planet, through lethal military force against the country’s territory, people, and institutions."

According to the statement, "Venezuela will firmly defend its natural energy resources" and will not yield to the United States’ blackmailing and pressure. It also calls for supporting the resistance to the external pressure.

US President Donald Trump announced on November 29 that he had closed the airspace over Venezuela. All "airlines, pilots, drug dealers and human traffickers" should consider the airspace over and around Venezuela "closed in its entirety," he wrote on his Truth Social platform.

Washington has accused Caracas of not doing enough to combat drug smuggling. Under this pretext, the US deployed large forces to the Caribbean. A strike group of US warships led by the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford, o nuclear-powered submarine, and more than 16,000 troops have reportedly been deployed by the United States to the Caribbean. Since September, the US has destroyed at least 20 boats and eliminated more than 80 people allegedly involved in drug trafficking from Venezuela.

The US media have repeatedly reported that the United States may soon strike Venezuela. On November 27, Trump said that Washington would very soon begin to fight drug trafficking from Venezuela on land, but did not elaborate.

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