The Trump administration's "total and complete blockade" of "all sanctioned oil tankers" off the Venezuelan coast was already denounced by critics as "an act of war"—and the United States further escalated its aggression on Saturday by seizing a tanker that is not on a list vessels under US sanctions.
US Coast Guard troops led Saturday's seizure of the Centuries, a Panamanian-flagged, Chinese-owned oil tanker in the Caribbean Sea, after it left Venezuela.
"The United States will continue to pursue the illicit movement of sanctioned oil that is used to fund narco-terrorism in the region," US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on X. "We will find you, and we will stop you."
On Sunday, an unnamed US official told Reuters that the Coast Guard "is in active pursuit" of a third tanker near Venezuela, "a sanctioned dark fleet vessel" that "is flying a false flag and under a judicial seizure order.”
The Venezuelan government condemned Saturday's seizure as "a serious act of international piracy."
Venezuela “denounces and rejects the theft and hijacking of a new private vessel transporting oil, as well as the forced disappearance of its crew, committed by military personnel of the United States of America in international waters," Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez said in a statement.
“These acts will not go unpunished,” she vowed, adding that Venezuela will pursue "all corresponding actions, including filing a complaint before the United Nations Security Council, other multilateral organizations, and the governments of the world."
Earlier this week, President Donald Trump declared a blockade of all oil tankers under US sanctions that are traveling to or from Venezuela.
Saturday's action followed the US seizure of the Panamanian-flagged Skipper—which is under sanctions—off the Venezuelan coast on December 10.
The Centuries seizure also comes amid the Trump administration's bombing of at least 28 boats allegedly transporting drugs in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean, attacks that have killed more than 100 people and have been condemned as acts of extrajudicial murder.
In addition to the blockade and boat strikes, Trump has deployed an armada of warships and thousands of troops to the southern Caribbean, authorized covert CIA action against the socialist government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, and has threatened to invade the South American nation. This latest wave of aggression continues more than a century of US meddling in Venezuela's affairs and sovereignty.
Numerous world leaders have denounced the US aggression toward Venezuela. On Saturday, leftist Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula de Silva said during a summit of the South American Mercosur bloc in Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil that an "armed intervention in Venezuela would be a humanitarian catastrophe."
In the United States, multiple efforts by members of Congress—mostly Democrats, but also a handful of anti-war Republicans—to pass a war powers resolution blocking the Trump administration from bombing boats or attacking Venezuela have failed.
Echoing assertions by Venezuelan officials and others, one of those Republicans, Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, said earlier this week that Trump's aggressive escalation "is all about oil and regime change."
Some critics have called Trump's actions a renewal of the "gunboat diplomacy" practiced by the US in the 19th and 20th centuries. The US has conducted scores of military interventions in Latin America, including dozens of regime change operations.
From Common Dreams via This RSS Feed.
NYC-DSA’s Trans Rights and Bodily Autonomy Working Group (TRBAWG) has apparently attempted to purge one of its leaders. On December 16, a field coordinator for the TRBAWG states she was put on a zoom call with three members of the OC, where she was informed that on December 11, the OC met at a closed door session and “unanimously” voted that she could either rescind her affiliation with DSA’s Liberation Caucus, or be barred from serving as a field coordinator or holding any other leadership position in the working group.
To give some background, this individual, who wishes not to be named, is not a member of the caucus but an applicant, and has served as a field coordinator since September. Prior to this, she had been a very active member of the working group. During New York City leadership elections in November, she ran for a position herself and divulged her applicant status with Liberation. From this, we can assume that the working group OC learned of her affiliation.
Assuming these details are true, this can only be described as a purge. An individual faced backlash, punishment, and removal for their political beliefs and associations, beliefs that fit well within the tapestry of DSA’s so-called “big tent.” Members of the TRBA working group OC who voted for this expulsion are broadly on the DSA right, a group which, ironically, likes to call itself “the mass politics” wing, contrasted with the left’s so-called “sectarianism.” Time and again, members of these political factions have called for the restriction of meaningful deliberative democracy which is essential in effectuating the “mass politics” they supposedly represent. As this event shows, they engage in the very sort of sectarian gatekeeping and interpersonal petty bickering that can drive an organization to irrelevance.
During NYC DSA’s recent chapter elections, members associated with the right accused members of the Liberation Caucus of “supporting murder.” Political differences are one thing, and passionately presenting the case to membership that you are worth their votes over your opponents is an obvious part of any democracy. Such outsized language towards comrades, however, should not be allowed to be normalized.
The accusation of supporting murder refers to the fact that the Liberation Caucus signed onto a letter back in May which called for the release of Elias Rodriguez, an individual accused of killing two Israeli diplomats in Washington, DC. This letter, to be clear, is not one I would consider signing. In no uncertain terms, it declares that the signers “support” acts of “resistance” against the Israeli genocide, which include Rodriguez’s alleged actions. It’s also a letter using language about solidarity, violent resistance, and anti-imperialism that I don’t find especially shocking after multiple years of being in left-wing organizing spaces. It was, quite frankly, the sort of letter I’d expect a group of self-identified Maoists might sign.
And let’s be clear, no one on the right found it “shocking” either; they found it embarrassing. Specifically, they found it embarrassing that Liberation’s signing of the statement was used by the Cuomo campaign as a red-baiting cheap shot against Mamdani. Their instinct was not to ignore the attack as a clearly desperate rhetorical plea by a disgraced politician disappearing into irrelevancy, but to join in the attack.
Whether or not we consider signing onto the statement to be an unforced error, the right’s response was rooted in the false logic that capital would not find reason to attack us if we present them with a “respectable” enough socialism. We in DSA are facing a fascist presidency that has vowed to fight the Left with the coercion of the state. We know this state needs no excuse. We know that the only thing that can stand up to state repression is unified, organized solidarity. Undermining that solidarity is a far greater threat to DSA than any letter signed by our comrades to the far left.
It is the height of irony that the very factions of DSA extolling their inclusiveness would engage in exclusion. The very people who claimed that democratically-mandated Anti-Zionist electoral and membership standards would open the floodgates to purges (some even suggested they could be used to purge “anyone who had a bar mitzvah”) have now resorted to engaging in purges and interpersonal bullying in the most petty manner. One has to wonder, what exactly is the danger the working group OC imagines they are preventing? What threats does a Maoist field coordinator pose to the integrity of the work of protecting the rights of trans people?
The comrade expelled from her position did not want to be named because she didn’t want bad blood between her and the other members of the working group. She only wants to serve in a role that she is qualified for, where she can make a difference for a cause that is meaningful to her. She wants to serve in that role alongside comrades who she might not always see eye-to-eye with. She wants to bring her vision of change to her work, together with the visions of those around her, and to work together to build something bigger than she could on her own. We can only hope the “anti-sectarians” of DSA allow her to do so.
From The Socialist Tribune via This RSS Feed.
Venezuela Christmas 2025 resistance blends festive joy with steadfast defense of sovereignty after U.S. naval seizure of an oil tanker sparks national outrage.
Related: Venezuela Rejects US Theft of New Ship With Venezuelan Crude Oil
On December 21, 2025, as Christmas lights shimmered across plazas and parrandas echoed through neighborhood streets, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro delivered a message that captured the spirit of the season—and the soul of a nation under siege. In a heartfelt audiovisual address, he celebrated the joy, resilience, and unbreakable dignity of the Venezuelan people during the holidays, even as Venezuela faces renewed aggression from foreign powers.
“No one will tarnish the Christmas of the Venezuelan people,” Maduro declared, standing before images of families shopping, children laughing, and communities singing traditional aguinaldos. “This is a noble and liberty-loving people who receive this season under the blessing of the Child Jesus—and we will never, ever fail them.”
His words came just one day after Venezuela’s government denounced a brazen act of maritime piracy: the U.S. military’s seizure of a Venezuelan-flagged oil tanker in international waters on December 20. According to official reports, U.S. forces boarded the vessel, confiscated its crude cargo, and forcibly disappeared the entire crew—an act Vice President Delcy Rodríguez labeled “state-sponsored piracy” aimed at looting Venezuela’s strategic hydrocarbon reserves.
Yet despite this provocation, the streets of Caracas, Maracaibo, and Valencia pulsed with life. Markets bustled. Musicians played. Families prepared hallacas and pan de jamón. For Maduro, this festive normalcy in the face of external threat is not denial—it is defiance.
“It’s not the first time we’ve had a Christmas where we must share the street struggle—the fight for our rights, for democracy, for peace—alongside parrandas from corner to corner,” he said. “Between song and battle, between victory and vigilance, we will celebrate these Christmas days that no one will darken for the Venezuelan people.”
Venezuela Christmas 2025 Resistance: Joy as an Act of Sovereignty
The Venezuela Christmas 2025 resistance is defined by this dual reality: celebration and struggle, faith and fortitude, tradition and political consciousness. Far from being contradictory, these elements fuse into a distinctly Bolivarian form of cultural resistance—one that refuses to let imperial coercion dictate the rhythm of daily life.
President Maduro emphasized that Venezuela’s 14 economic “engines of development,” including a revitalized national oil industry, are ensuring economic independence even under blockade. “We are building prosperity from within,” he affirmed, pointing to growth in agriculture, mining, and local manufacturing that has reduced dependence on imports during the holiday season.
Read Venezuela’s Ministry of Communication report on economic recovery and holiday supply chains
This self-reliance is critical. For over two decades, Venezuela has endured unilateral U.S. sanctions that have frozen over $30 billion in state assets, restricted access to global financial systems, and deliberately targeted food and medicine imports. Yet in 2025, shelves are stocked, public transport runs, and communities gather—not thanks to foreign aid, but through collective organization and state-led social programs.
The Christmas spirit, in this context, becomes a political statement. Lighting a farol, sharing a tamal, or singing a gaita is not escapism—it is an assertion that life, culture, and joy persist even when empire seeks to suffocate them.
Vice President Rodríguez confirmed that Venezuela will pursue legal action at the United Nations Security Council and other international bodies to condemn the tanker seizure as a violation of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the Geneva Conventions. “This was not law enforcement—it was piracy,” she stated. “And piracy will not go unpunished.”
Geopolitical Context: Christmas Under Siege in a Multipolar World
The Venezuela Christmas 2025 resistance unfolds against a backdrop of escalating U.S. militarization in the Caribbean. The recent oil tanker seizure—celebrated by former President Donald Trump as a “massive win”—is part of a broader strategy to strangle Venezuela’s economy and provoke regime change through extralegal means.
This tactic mirrors historical patterns: from gunboat diplomacy in the 19th century to CIA-backed coups in the 20th, the U.S. has long treated Latin America as its domain. But today’s Venezuela is not alone. It stands within a growing Global South alliance—including Cuba, Nicaragua, Bolivia, and nations across Africa and Asia—that rejects unilateral coercion and champions sovereign development.
Regionally, the incident has drawn sharp condemnation. The Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) is expected to convene an emergency session, while the ALBA-TCP bloc has pledged full solidarity. Even traditionally neutral governments, such as Spain under Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, have questioned the legality of U.S. naval interdictions in international waters.
Review CELAC’s 2014 “Zone of Peace” declaration and its relevance to current U.S. naval operations
Globally, the event highlights the fragility of the rules-based international order—which powerful states invoke when convenient and ignore when inconvenient. If a nation can be stripped of its oil on the high seas without evidence, trial, or recourse, then sovereignty becomes a privilege, not a right.
For the Venezuelan people, however, sovereignty is non-negotiable. As Maduro reminded the nation: “We walk the path of Bolívar—of balance, freedom, and justice.” This path is not walked in silence, but in song; not in fear, but in parranda.
And so, as church bells ring and fireworks light the night sky, Venezuela’s Christmas 2025 is more than a holiday—it is a living testament to resistance. A people under siege choose joy. A nation targeted by empire chooses peace. And in doing so, they declare to the world: our humanity cannot be blockaded.
From teleSUR English via This RSS Feed.