The Bolivarian Government of Venezuela denounced on Monday that «energy cannot be turned into a weapon of war,» in response to the total blockade of the Venezuelan coast ordered by US President Donald Trump, and the assault on two oil tankers in territorial waters of the country.
The formal protest was made through a letter sent by President Nicolás Maduro to all member states of the United Nations (UN). Venezuelan Chancellor Yván Gil read the letter to the press on the eve of a UN Security Council session to address the aggression against Venezuela.
In the document, the Venezuelan president warns of «an escalation of actions of extreme seriousness by the US government,» whose effects transcend national borders. The Venezuelan leader warned that these actions not only affect Venezuela, but also «threaten to destabilize the entire region and the international system as a whole.»
Furthermore, the Venezuelan head of state made specific reference to the so-called «Operation Southern Spear,» a Pentagon initiative that supposedly seeks to «eliminate drug traffickers» in the Western Hemisphere. Maduro described this operation as «a direct threat of the use of force,» expressly prohibited by the United Nations Charter.
The letter represents a diplomatic effort by the Venezuelan state to mobilize the international community against what it considers a violation of international law. The call to the UN Security Council seeks to establish a multilateral debate on the legality of unilateral coercive measures.
With this action, Venezuela seeks to place on the global agenda the principle that energy resources and maritime routes should not be instrumentalized for warlike purposes or political pressure. The Venezuelan government’s appeal emphasizes the need to respect sovereignty and promote regional peace through dialogue and international law.
Following, the full text of the letter:
“Caracas, December 22, 2025
Your Excellency,
It is my honor to convey a fraternal greeting from the people of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, a nation that today lives in peace, with institutional stability, sustained economic growth, and a firm commitment to dialogue, cooperation, and understanding among peoples, despite having been subjected for years to unilateral coercive measures and external pressures.
It is precisely so Venezuela can advance, recover, and sovereignly exercise its rights that I am writing to you to alert you to an escalation of extremely serious aggressions by the Government of the United States of America, whose effects extend beyond my country and threaten to destabilize the entire region and the international system as a whole.
On August 14, 2025, the United States ordered the largest naval and air deployment in the Caribbean Sea in recent decades, which includes a nuclear submarine, off the Venezuelan coast, under the supposed justification of an anti-drug operation called “Operation Southern Spear”. This act constitutes a direct threat of the use of force, prohibited by Article 2, paragraph 4, of the United Nations Charter, and violates both the 2014 Declaration of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) as a Zone of Peace, and the Treaty of Tlatelolco, which designates this region as a nuclear-weapon-free zone. In this mindset I must stress on that Venezuela has not committed any act that justifies this military intimidation.
Between September 2 and December 18, 2025, U.S. forces perpetrated 28 armed attacks against civilian vessels in the Caribbean Sea and the Eastern Pacific Ocean, resulting in the extrajudicial execution of 104 people, many of them resulting in shipwreck condition.
These events directly and repeatedly violate: the right to life (Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights); the 1949 Geneva Conventions, which mandate the protection of civilians, the wounded, and shipwrecked persons at sea, and Additional Protocol I of 1977, which imposes the absolute distinction between the civilian population and combatants.
These are not isolated incidents, but rather a systematic practice of the lethal use of force outside of any international legal framework and even outside the constitutional framework of the United States itself, where an intense debate is currently taking place, both in its Congress and in public opinion, which largely condemns such actions.
In December 2025, the United States proceeded to seize and steal two ships on the high seas, containing approximately four million barrels of Venezuelan oil, and announced a complete naval blockade against tankers transporting Venezuelan energy.
These actions constitute acts of piracy, understood according to customary international law and the practice codified by the United Nations, as illegal acts of violence, detention, or depredation committed on the high seas against ships and their cargo.
The main purpose of combating piracy is to protect the freedom of navigation and the inviolability of ships on the high seas, which makes it a universal principle, clearly violated in the aforementioned illegal operations.
The fact that these acts are carried out by the armed forces of a State makes them even more serious, as they also constitute:
• Acts of aggression, in accordance with UN General Assembly Resolution 3314.
• Violations of the 1958 Convention on the High Seas, ratified by the United States, which recognizes the exclusive jurisdiction of the flag State.
• Direct attacks against the security of maritime navigation and international trade, prohibited by the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation.
The execution of state-sponsored piracy is a direct threat to the international legal order and to global security.
Excellency, history has taught us that inaction in the face of aggression and disregard for international law has devastating consequences.
In the 1930s, the silence and passivity of the international community in the face of the rise of Nazism led to an unprecedented human tragedy: the Holocaust and a world war.
Today, while acknowledging the historical differences, the logic remains the same: if the unilateral use of force, the execution of civilians, piracy, and the plundering of the resources of sovereign states are tolerated, the world is headed towards a scenario of global confrontation of unpredictable proportions.
Venezuela reaffirms its commitment to peace, but also declares with absolute clarity that it is prepared to defend its sovereignty, its territorial integrity, and its resources, in accordance with international law.
However, we responsibly warn that these aggressions will not only impact Venezuela.
The blockade and piracy against Venezuelan energy trade:
• Will affect the supply of oil and energy.
• Will increase the instability of international markets.
• Will harm the economies of Latin America, the Caribbean, and the world, especially the most vulnerable countries.
Energy cannot be turned into a weapon of war or an instrument of political coercion.
For all the reasons stated above, I make this call to you respectfully and responsibly, focusing primarily on the need for us to work together in order to:
1. Let’s explicitly condemn these acts of aggression, piracy, and extrajudicial killings.
2. Let’s demand the immediate cessation of the military deployment, the blockade, and the armed attacks.
3. Let’s activate the mechanisms of the multilateral system to investigate, sanction, and prevent the recurrence of these events.
To defend Venezuela today is defending peace, international law, and global stability.
Excellency, Please accept the assurances of my highest consideration and esteem.
Nicolás Maduro Moros
President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela