Venezuela struck a defiant note Wednesday, insisting its crude oil exports were not impacted by US President Donald Trump's announcement of a potentially crippling blockade.
Trump's declaration on Tuesday marked a new escalation in his months-long campaign of military and economic pressure on Venezuela's authoritarian leftist President Nicolas Maduro.
Venezuela, which has the world's largest proven oil reserves, shrugged off the threat of more pain, insisting it was proceeding with business as usual.
"Export operations for crude and byproducts continue normally. Oil tankers linked to PDVSA operations continue to sail with full security," state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) said.
Trump said Tuesday he was imposing "A TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE OF ALL SANCTIONED OIL TANKERS going into, and out of, Venezuela."
Referring to the heavy US military presence in the Caribbean -- including the world's largest aircraft carrier -- he warned "Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America."
On Wednesday, he reiterated that US forces would not "let anybody go in...that shouldn't be going through," and accused Venezuela once again of taking "all of our oil."
"They took all of our energy rights, they took all of our oil, from not that long ago, and we want it back," he said, apparently referring to the nationalization of Venzuela's oil industry.
Maduro held telephone talks with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to discuss what he called the "escalation of threats" from Washington and their "implications for regional peace."
Guterres urged both sides to "exert restraint and de-escalate tensions to preserve regional stability."
- 'We are not intimidated' -
Venezuela's economy, which has been in freefall over the last decade of increasingly hardline rule by Maduro, relies heavily on petroleum exports.
Trump's campaign appears aimed at undermining domestic support for Maduro, but the Venezuelan military said Wednesday it was "not intimidated" by the threats.
The foreign minister of China, the main market for Venezuelan oil, defended Caracas in a phone call with his Venezuelan counterpart Yvan Gil.
"China opposes all unilateral bullying and supports all countries in defending their sovereignty and national dignity," he said.
Last week's seizure of the M/T Skipper, in a dramatic raid involving US personnel rappelling from a helicopter, marked a shift in Trump's offensive against Maduro.
In August, the US leader ordered the biggest military deployment in the Caribbean Sea since the 1989 US invasion of Panama -- purportedly to combat drug trafficking, but taking particular aim at Venezuela, a minnow in the global drug trade.
US strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific have left at least 99 people dead, with the latest strike Wednesday claiming four more lives.
Caracas believes that the anti-narcotics operations are a cover for a bid to topple Maduro and steal Venezuelan oil.
The escalating tensions have raised fears of a potential US intervention to dislodge Maduro.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum waded into the dispute Wednesday, declaring that the United Nations was "nowhere to be seen" and asked that it step up to "prevent any bloodshed."
- Oil lifeline -
The US blockade threatens major pain for Venezuela's crumbling economy.
Venezuela has been under a US oil embargo since 2019, forcing it to sell its production on the black market at significantly lower prices, primarily to Asian countries.
The country produces one million barrels of oil per day, down from more than three million in the early 2000s.
Capital Economics analysts predicted that the blockade "would cut off a key lifeline for Venezuela's economy" in the short term.
"The medium-term impact will hinge largely on how tensions with the US evolve -- and what the US administration's goals are in Venezuela."
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