"Venezuela’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Yvan Gil warned that the seizure of oil tankers by Washington could have a far-reaching and damaging impact, while demanding the cessation of the US military deployment in the Caribbean Sea. "If the unilateral use of force, piracy and the looting of resources of sovereign states are tolerated, the world is heading toward global confrontation of unpredictable proportions," the minister argued, after the US government’s seizure of Venezuelan oil tankers. "These actions constitute acts of piracy as understood under international law, illegal acts of violence, detention or depredation committed on the high seas," he added. At a press conference in Caracas, the diplomat read a letter sent by President Nicolas Maduro to leaders of Latin America, the Caribbean and the 194 UN member states, detailing a series of US military and economic actions that, according to the Venezuelan government, constitute direct threats to sovereignty and regional stability. Gil described the moves as "a systematic practice of lethal use of force outside any international legal framework and even outside the United States' own constitutional framework." He also called for international action and the use of multilateral mechanisms to guarantee respect for state sovereignty and global stability. "We demand the immediate cessation of the military deployment, the blockade and the armed attacks. Defending Venezuela today is defending peace, international legality and the stability of the world," Gil stated. This comes after President Trump announced a blockade of ‘sanctioned oil tankers’ entering or leaving the country, arguing that the government of Nicolas Maduro uses them to "finance drug trafficking, terrorism and human trafficking"."