CARACAS, December 22. /TASS/. Venezueal is committed to peace but is ready to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity, President Nicolas Maduro said in a letter to heads of Latin American and Caribbean countries and all United Nations member countries.
"Venezuela reiterates its striving for peace but states absolutely clearly that it is ready to defend its sovereignty, territorial integrity, and resources in conformity with law," Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil Pinto read out the message on Venezolana de Televisión.
Maduro recalled that the US military had staged 28 attacks on civilian ships in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific, "executing 104 people extrajudicially." He stressed that Venezuela had done nothing that could justify the United States’ military pressure.
Apart from that, the United States seized in international waters two tankers carrying around 4 million barrels of Venezuelan oil and declared a total maritime blockade of oil tankers, he recalled, adding these were not isolated incidents but "the practice of the use of military forces outside the frames of international law and the US constitution."
The blockade and piracy against Venezuelan energy resources will have a negative impact on the export of oil and energy sources, will add to the instability on global markets, and will have an adverse effect on the economies of Latin American and Caribbean countries, the Venezuelan leader warned.
Energy resources must not be used as an instrument of military confrontation and political pressure, Maduro stressed.
On December 10, US President Donald Trump announced the detention of a sanctioned oil tanker carrying Venezuelan oil and stated that the US intended to take the oil.
On December 20, the US confirmed the interception of the Panama-flagged Centuries tanker with a cargo for a Chinese oil trader supplying fuel to Chinese refineries. However, the vessel is not subject to US sanctions. On December 21, Bloomberg reported the detention of the Bella 1 tanker, sailing to Venezuela under the Panamanian flag. According to The New York Times, the US authorities have received a warrant for the ship’s seizure as it presumably could have been used to transport Iranian oil.