Venezuela’s Maduro says Trump’s comments on land and oil reveal his true motives

By Michael Rios, CNN

(CNN) — Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro said Wednesday that his US counterpart Donald Trump had revealed his true motives toward the South American country with his claim that that it had stolen US “oil, land and other assets.”

Maduro said Trump’s claim showed the US was really seeking regime change along with ownership of Venezuela’s territory and resources. Previously, the US has characterized its build-up of naval forces near the country as being aimed at combating drug-trafficking.

“It is simply a warmongering and colonialist pretense, and we have said so many times, and now everyone sees the truth. The truth has been revealed,” Maduro said during a speech in Caracas Wednesday.

“The aim in Venezuela is a regime change to impose a puppet government that wouldn’t last 47 hours, that would hand over the Constitution, sovereignty, and all the wealth, turning Venezuela into a colony. It will simply never happen,” he continued.

On Tuesday, Trump wrote on Truth Social that the military buildup around Venezuela would get bigger until the country returned to the US “the oil, land, and other assets that they previously stole from us.”

Trump told reporters on Wednesday that Venezuela had illegally taken away “energy rights” and that the US wanted them back. “We’re getting land, oil rights, whatever we had. They took it away because we had a president that maybe wasn’t watching. But they’re not going to do that. We want it back. They took our oil rights. We had a lot of oil there. As you know, they threw our companies out and we want it back.”

Venezuela brought its oil sector under state control in the 1970s. Prior to that, American companies had had a much larger presence in the country’s oil fields.

Trump has repeatedly warned that the US could carry out strikes in Venezuela soon, and said that any country trafficking drugs into the United States is “subject to attack,” suggesting that neighboring Colombia could be one of them.

In his speech on Wednesday, Maduro called on Colombia to unite with Venezuela and defend both nations’ sovereignty.

“I make my call … to the ordinary people of Colombia, to its social movements, to its political forces, to the Colombian military, whom I know very well. I call upon them for a perfect union with Venezuela so that no one dares touch the sovereignty of our countries,” Maduro said.

Maduro speaks with UN chief

Maduro also condemned Trump’s comments in a phone call with UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Wednesday, Venezuela’s government said.

“President Maduro stressed that such statements must be categorically rejected by the United Nations system, as they constitute a direct threat to sovereignty, international law, and peace,” the Venezuelan government said in a statement.

Maduro claimed that recent US actions against Venezuela were part of a “diplomacy of barbarism” which he said went against the principle of international coexistence.

Guterres’ office later confirmed the phone conversation had taken place, saying the secretary-general had “reaffirmed the United Nations’ position on the need for member states to respect international law, particularly the United Nations Charter, exert restraint and de-escalate tensions to preserve regional stability.”

Earlier, UN spokesperson Farhan Haq told reporters that Guterres was focused on avoiding any further escalation between the US and Venezuela.

“Of course, as always, he believes that any difference must be resolved by peaceful means,” Haq said.

The exchanges came just a day after Trump said he would impose a blockade on all sanctioned oil tankers transiting Venezuela.

Asked if a blockade would violate international law, Haq replied: “I think we are looking at what the applicable laws are at this stage and we’re studying the situation but certainly parties have to abide by the UN Charter and you can read the charter for yourself and see what that entails.”

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CNN’s Stefano Pozzebon and Hira Humayun contributed to this report.