COMMUNICATION FROM THE BOLIVARIAN REPUBLIC OF VENEZUELA

18 December 2025

The following communication, dated 23 December 2025, is being circulated at the request of the delegation of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

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1.  The Delegation of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela draws the attention of all Members of this General Council to express its formal complaint before the multilateral trading community, of a series of unilateral and coercive measures applied by the Government of the United States of America, which constitute not only a serious and flagrant violation of the principles and norms that underpin this organization, but also an irrefutable violation of international law and, in particular, of the Charter of the United Nations.

2.  Yesterday (16 December 2025), in an unprecedented public statement, the President of the United States said. I quote: "...today I am ordering a total and complete blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela," adding: "Until such time as they return to the United States of America all of the Oil, Land, and other Assets that they previously stole from us."

3.  This statement is consistent with the event of 10 December 2025, which prompted us to include this issue on the WTO meeting agenda. I am referring to the illegal boarding and criminal theft of a Venezuelan oil tanker loaded with 1.8 million barrels of crude oil and the kidnapping of the crew, who, at this time, remain missing.

4.  Faced with this violation of all current trade and navigation rules and asked by a journalist what the US would do with the ship and its cargo, President Trump replied: "...I think we'll keep it...I guess."

5.  The context of these illegal actions is related to the disastrous policy of maximum pressure against Venezuela, publicly initiated by President Barack Obama through the approval of Executive Order 13692 on 8 March 2015^[1], whereby the US declares our country an unusual and extraordinary threat to US national security and foreign policy.

6.  Since then, more than one thousand forty-four (1,044) Unilateral Coercive Measures^[2], have been established against Venezuela, including the BCV, the oil industry, and the entire financial, economic, and commercial system. This Organization has denounced these measures for their illegality and violation of international law, including international human rights law and the right to development. Many, if not all, of the countries present here have been affected—or their companies—by the purported extraterritorial reach of these illegal, misnamed sanctions.

7.  As a further step in this policy, over the last 15 weeks, the US has initiated a disproportionate military escalation in the Caribbean—aimed at Venezuela—with the deployment of military, air, and naval resources, under the untenable argument of the fight against drug trafficking, which has led to extrajudicial executions documented by United Nations experts and rapporteurs.

8.  In addition, the US president has attempted to decree the closure of Venezuela's airspace, once again violating all international regulations governing this matter.

Director General, Colleagues

9.  All these unacceptable actions constitute Acts of Aggression under UN Resolution 3314, but they also violate the rules of the global trading system.

10.  We are facing specific and consecutive violations of the pillars of our multilateral trading system: Article XI of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) on the prohibition of quantitative restrictions, Article III on national treatment, Article V on freedom of transit, the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures, and the fundamental principle of non-discrimination.

11.  The forced diversion of a Venezuelan oil tanker in international waters in the Caribbean Sea constitutes an act of modern international piracy. This arbitrary action constitutes a quantitative restriction that directly violates Article XI of the GATT of 1994.

12.  This criminal act is in addition to the seizure of our strategic assets, particularly the confiscation of CITGO Petroleum Corporation, valued at $15 billion, a subsidiary of our state-owned company PDVSA. This act of appropriation has been carried out through irregular judicial proceedings, tainted with nullity, without the slightest compensation, thus violating the principle of National Treatment in Article III of the GATT and the provisions of the Agreement on Trade-Related Investment Measures.

13.  The United States' objective has always been to appropriate Venezuelan oil and other resources without paying any compensation, which is evidence of a deliberate plan to strip us of our energy wealth. It is necessary to remind them that Venezuela has the largest oil reserves in the world, the eighth-largest gas reserves, and the largest gold reserves in Latin America.

14.  This behavior represents a deliberate erosion of confidence in international law and in the WTO itself. And I would like to emphasize that claiming the authority to act outside multilateral trade rules is not only an attack against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, but also an attack against all member states that believe in a multilateral trading system based on international law, not on force.     

15.  But it is alarming, and that is why it must be denounced. If the US has decided to disregard a fundamental legal norm—such as the UN Charter, which it signed and committed to uphold—what it is telling us is that it is willing to disregard any norm, any law, whether domestic or international, to achieve its interests, including, of course, the rules of the international trading system.

16.  Considering the economic and trade consequences of the US's conduct, clearly set out in its recently published National Security Strategy^[3], we recommend that the WTO conduct an analysis and debate on this document, as it will undoubtedly form the basis of future trade disputes, some of which are already underway, and may have profound implications for global economic stability.

17.  This document states, for example, and I quote: "We will deny non-hemispheric competitors the ability to position forces or other threatening capabilities or to own or control strategically vital assets in our hemisphere." I will not go into detail on this and other proposals that, in our opinion, warrant serious debate from an economic, trade, and investment perspective. 

18.  For these reasons of force majeure, and in defense of our sovereignty and the multilateral trading system that we are currently trying to reform, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela raises its voice firmly to demand, before this international body, the immediate fulfillment of three irrevocable demands. These are not mere requests, but mandates from a people who will resist being subjugated by the law of the strongest.

19.  We demand, as a first and non-negotiable condition, the immediate, complete, and unconditional cessation of all unilateral coercive measures imposed illegitimately. These actions, characteristic of 21st-century economic colonialism, must end immediately, as they constitute a direct attack on the self-determination of peoples and the right to development of a nation.

20.  Secondly, a firm statement by this organization denouncing this situation and demanding the full restitution of all our national assets that have been arbitrarily seized, as well as fair and proportional compensation for the considerable economic and commercial damage that these attacks have caused to our economy and our people. This is not a matter of negotiation, but of mandatory reparation for an economic crime whose victims are millions of Venezuelans.

21.  Finally, and no less importantly, we demand unrestricted respect for the procedures established in the Understanding on Dispute Settlement and full recognition of the authority of this multilateral body to exercise our right to official complaint and dispute without delay.

22.  We believe that the WTO cannot be a silent spectator while its foundations are being undermined; it must act firmly to defend its own raison d'être against those who seek to impose the law of the jungle on international trade relations.

23.  Mr. Chairman, Director-General, history shows us the risks of normalizing impunity and domination by force. Today, in the face of this threat, we are not only defending our legitimate rights, but also the validity of multilateral trade principles and the urgent need to apply universal standards to evaluate the actions of all States equally, without discrimination.

24.  With the strength that comes from being in the right and from international law, we affirm with absolute conviction that Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela will use the tools of justice to confront attempts at imposition by force. We trust that this Council will align itself with legality, raising its collective voice so that equity and multilateral order prevail over coercion and hegemonic interests.

25.  The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela reserves the right to inform WTO Members of any updates related to the previously stated facts, based on new developments that negatively affect, first and foremost, the Venezuelan people and, undoubtedly, the multilateral trading system.

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