With more strikes in the eastern Pacific Ocean and a blockade on oil tankers coming to and from Venezuela, America has allowed its greed for oil to dictate its actions.
The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, National Representative of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, has long criticized America’s greed and its bullying tactics on other nations.
“Since there is no more ‘superpower’ in the world to be a balance of power for the power of America and the West, all the smaller nations of Africa, the Middle East, the Isles of the Pacific, the Caribbean and Central and South America are literally frightened of the enormous power of America.
And America now is like a great bully, just dictating terms to the nations of the Earth,” Minister Farrakhan said in a message titled, “Crack Cocaine: The Conspiracy to Destroy The Black Community,” delivered on Nov. 3, 1996, in Chicago.
Since early September, America has focused its bully tactics on Venezuela, as it targets boats in the Caribbean Sea, in the Pacific and off the coast of Venezuela.
In the latest strikes, U.S. forces killed eight men on three boats on Dec. 15 and four men on one boat on Dec. 17, according to posts on X by the U.S. Southern Command. To date, the U.S. has killed at least 99 people on 26 boats since September.
The double-tap strike against the first boat in early September has received scrutiny, as U.S. forces carried out two consecutive strikes, with the follow-up strike killing two survivors.
U.S. lawmakers have called for the release of unedited video footage of the strike, a request Secretary of Defense (Secretary of War) Pete Hegseth has declined, according to The Associated Press.
“Of course, we’re not going to release a top secret, full, unedited video of that to the general public,” Defense Secretary Hegseth told reporters after a closed-door briefing with senators, AP reported.
The news outlet further reported that both Democratic and Republican senators have questioned the strikes and have said the Trump administration has left them in the dark about plans toward Venezuela. President Trump has initiated the strikes without congressional approval.
“If they can’t be transparent on this, how can you trust their transparency on all the other issues swirling about in the Caribbean?” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said, according to AP.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) also criticized the classified briefing, which was held Dec. 16. When asked by a reporter if she was satisfied with the information that was shared, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez responded, “Hell no, that was a joke,” she responded.
“There was not a single piece of intelligence that was shared that even rises to the level of any other briefing that we’ve seen on Ukraine, China, anything. … This was not a serious intelligence briefing. This was a communication of opinion and if this administration wants to go to war, they need to go get it from Congress,” she said.
On Dec. 17, the House rejected two “War Powers” resolutions that would have required President Trump to get congressional authorization to continue military actions in or against Venezuela.
In addition to the strikes, the U.S. also seized one of Venezuela’s oil tankers on Dec. 10. Venezuela sent a letter to the United Nations Security Council condemning the U.S. government’s seizure, the country’s Foreign Minister Yvan Gil announced in a Dec. 16 social media post, translated to English.
“We reiterate that Venezuela will continue to exercise its sovereign and inalienable right to legitimately market its resources and to demand that no legal operation be subject of robbery, kidnapping or acts of piracy,” he said.
The tanker was carrying almost two million barrels of crude oil. During a Dec. 10 briefing, a reporter asked President Trump, “What happens to the oil on that ship?”
“Well, we keep it, I guess,” the president responded.
President Trump then ordered a total and complete blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers coming to and from Venezuela, according to a Dec. 16 post on his Truth Social account. The president demanded that Venezuela hand over oil, land, and other assets to the U.S. that he claims were stolen from the U.S.
The foreign ministers of China and Senegal expressed their solidarity and support for Venezuela via phone calls with Foreign Minister Gil. During a phone call with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro pushed for the UN to reject statements falsely asserting that Venezuelan oil, natural resources and territory belong to the U.S., according to a Dec. 17 statement by Foreign Minister Gil, posted on social media.
The statement said that UN Secretary-General Guterres expressed solidarity with the Venezuelan people and reported he would monitor the situation.
Cuba, which is also a victim of American sanctions and brutality, also condemned its latest actions. “We condemn the vile act of piracy and the seizure by that country’s military forces of a vessel carrying Venezuelan oil, which contravenes the rules of free trade and freedom of navigation, in open violation of International Law,” Cuban Minister of Foreign Affairs Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla posted on X.
China also weighed in, voicing its support for Venezuela. “China and Venezuela are strategic partners, and mutual trust and support are traditions in China-Venezuela relations,” China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi said, according to reporting by the Anadolu Agency, based in Türkiye.
He added that “Beijing opposes all forms of unilateral bullying and supports all countries in safeguarding their sovereignty and national dignity,” the outlet reported.
With President Trump’s announcement, the U.S. is no longer hiding its true motives toward Venezuela—the Latin American country’s large crude oil reserves. The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan critiqued America’s “lust for oil” and described the country as an “oil junkie.”
“In those high places, there is a lust for oil. Our government and our country is a slave to the energy crisis produced by an inordinate need for oil. The government is just like the drug addict who will lie and cheat and steal to get their hands on a drug,” Minister Farrakhan said in a Final Call article titled, “The Cause and Effect of a Violent Society,” based on a Dec. 17, 2008, message delivered in downtown Chicago.
“Any parent in here that has a child that has unfortunately fallen victim to drugs, you know they are artful liars and manipulators. The addict will manipulate their parents and friends who love them just to get their hands on something that will allow them to get something that will make them high,”
Minister Farrakhan added. “In those high places, there are bad policies developed that are so wicked and deceptive so that our government can extract the wealth of others.”