The Venezuelan government has demanded that the International Maritime Organization (IMO) activate all international channels and mechanisms to guarantee freedom of navigation and maritime trade.

Caracas.- In statements broadcast from La Guaira state, Vice President Delcy Rodriguez revealed that she had a telephone conversation with the IMO’s Executive Secretary, Arsenio Dominguez, to whom she conveyed a formal complaint regarding the oil tanker attacked in the Caribbean Sea by U.S. troops.

Rodriguez stated that the Bolivarian Republic is doing what must be done in these cases, which is “to appeal to international law to defend our natural resources.”

She considered the illegal action by the United States Armed Forces on December 10 to be intended to “harm the nation’s maritime oil trade” and labeled the incident a blatant theft that exposes the true intention of the aggression against Venezuela.

“The real truth is that they want our oil, and they want it without paying,” declared the Venezuelan Minister of Hydrocarbons.

She emphasized that the exorbitant and excessive U.S. military deployment, with ships, planes, a nuclear submarine, and thousands of troops, has now been revealed as an operation to disrupt economic and commercial activity in the region and ultimately steal Venezuela’s natural resources. (PL)