Venezuela accuses US of committing 'greatest extortion known in our history'

Venezuelan Ambassador to the United Nations on Tuesday accused the United States of committing the “greatest extortion known in our history," as tensions between the two countries continue to escalate. 

The comment was made during an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council, which Venezuela called over the U.S.' recent seizures of Venezuelan oil tankers. The U.S. has also been destroying alleged Venezuelan drug boats in an effort to curb the flow of illegal drugs into North America. 

Venezuelan Ambassador Samuel Moncada claimed that President Donald Trump has sought to annex his country and demanded that Venezuela hands over land, oil and minerals that Trump said previously belonged to the U.S., per The Hill.

"He said that if we did not comply with his ultimatum, he would unleash the fury of the greatest Navy in history on our country," Moncada said. “This is the greatest extortion known in our history, a gigantic crime of aggression and progress, beyond all rational parameters, all legal logic, all historical precedent.”

A U.S. official at the meeting told the council that America would not back down from its campaign, and Mike Waltz, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., said the tankers were critical for Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro's regime.

“Maduro’s ability to sell Venezuela’s oil enables his fraudulent claim to power and his narco-terrorist activities,” Waltz said.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.