The president of the United States, has presented this evening, describing them as superior combat ships to replace an “old, tired and obsolete” American fleet. “They will help maintain America’s military supremacy, revive the nation’s shipbuilding industry, and strike fear into our country’s enemies around the world,” the Republican said from the Mar-a-Lago library.
Beyond the narcissism that he confirms, the context is not innocent: he shows his teeth, that is, the ships, at a moment in which he has decided, when he besieges the Caribbean and the Pacific in search, supposedly, of drug traffickers. A siege that, over the days, has clearly extended to oil and that escalates in tension – verbal and real – every day. This same night, in the same intervention about his glorious Navy, Trump has once again brought out his hostile assertiveness against two presidents: the Venezuelan and the Colombian.
He has told the Chavista that he would be “intelligent” if he chose to leave power and warned him that if he “plays tough” it will be “the last time” he does so. When asked at the press conference after his announcement whether Washington’s strategy is, Trump responded: “I think it probably is. I can’t say for sure. That depends on him. On what he wants to do. I think he would be smart if he did it. But we’ll find out.”
When asked why the Venezuelan should take seriously the threat that the US would attack “soon” within Venezuelan territory, Trump warned that there would be consequences if the Venezuelan president “plays tough.” “He can do whatever he wants. It’s what he decides to do. If he acts tough, it will be the last time he can do it,” he declared.
The magnate reiterated, without presenting evidence, his accusation that the Maduro Government is flooding his country with drugs and criminals from Venezuelan prisons.
His statements come amid increasing tension with Caracas due to Trump’s order to sanction them by the US Government. At the press conference, Trump said that the US will keep the 1.9 million barrels of oil from the ship confiscated on December 10. “We will keep it. We may keep it, sell it or keep it in our strategic reserves. We will keep it and the ships too.” He also stated that he has spoken with American oil companies about Venezuela, although he did not give more details about it.
Until now, the official objective of the US Government’s strategy towards Venezuela is to stop drug trafficking and recover the “oil rights” of US companies, but it does not openly talk about deposing Maduro.
The US stated on Sunday that it is maintaining an “active pursuit” to intercept a third oil tanker near the Venezuelan coast, after Trump announced a blockade of all sanctioned vessels entering and leaving Venezuela.
A person dressed as a pirate and on a motorcycle, during a caravan supporting Nicolás Maduro and condemning Donald Trump, on December 22, 2025, in Caracas.
Maduro, who is not silent either, has called on his American counterpart to “address the issues of his country”, considering that “it would be better for him.” “A president cannot be thinking about how he is going to govern other countries. Imagine if I were to waste my time, instead of being president of Venezuela, thinking about getting involved with other countries, about looking for problems and problems for other countries, about wanting to govern the world. I would be doing it very badly. It would be wrong,” he declared during an event in Caracas, broadcast by the state channel VTV.
The leader has defended that “one has to concentrate on governing his country, on addressing his country’s problems, and summoning all the economic and social forces, all the living forces of a country to produce, which is what we have done, with a plan.”
Maduro has also spoken about the exit the day before: “When we sign a contract in accordance with the Constitution, that is fulfilled, rain, shine or lightning, as is happening with Chevron.”
Add and continue
The oil blockade was ordered after months of US military deployment in the Caribbean, aimed at intercepting vessels allegedly loaded with drugs that Washington links to the Maduro Government, something that Caracas flatly denies.
For his part, Maduro has accused the United States of piracy for the seizure of ships with Venezuelan crude oil and has announced actions so that these acts do not go unpunished, including a complaint to the UN Security Council. The international organization will analyze the crisis today, Tuesday, in a special meeting.
But while that happens, the US attacks on ships that supposedly carry drugs do not stop. Until now, no evidence has been provided that this is the case, which is why the democratic opposition and prominent international NGOs warn that extrajudicial executions could be carried out by killing people who are on the boats and that no one knows if they are drug traffickers and, if so, they have not been arrested and subjected to a fair trial.
This same morning, Washington destroyed a new boat supposedly linked to drug trafficking, killing one person on board, on a route in the Eastern Pacific. The ship was described by the US Southern Command as “low profile” and was destroyed in international waters, while reporting the death of one person as a result of the attack.
The United States has destroyed more than 30 boats during operations similar to today’s, in events that have left more than a hundred people murdered, whose identities have not been given or the amount of narcotics that the vessels were supposedly transporting has not been specified.
Petro, warm up and get out
In his speech tonight, Trump has also attacked the neighboring country with Venezuela, the Colombia that looks to that Pacific of the last attack. Specifically, he has defined his president, the leftist Petro, as “a troublemaker” and warned him that “he better be careful,” in what represents a new rise in tone in the clash that arises as a result of this supposed fight against drug trafficking by the northern power.
“I love the people of Colombia. They are great, energetic, intelligent, but their new leader is a troublemaker, and he better be careful,” the real estate magnate explained during the event. The Republican once again insisted that Colombia has three cocaine factories that are then sent to the United States. “They should close those cocaine factories. They have at least three important cocaine factories, they better close them quickly,” he said. He went so far as to say that Petro is a “drug trafficking leader” who promotes cocaine production in his country.
