CAMPAIGNERS hit back today after United States President Donald Trump ordered a blockade of all “sanctioned oil tankers” into Venezuela.

Mr Trump’s escalation, announced in a social media post on Tuesday, comes after US forces last week seized an oil tanker off Venezuela’s coast, an unusual move that followed a build-up of military forces in the region.

In his social media post, Mr Trump alleged Venezuela was using oil to fund drug trafficking and other crimes and vowed to continue the military build-up until the country gave the US oil, land and assets, though it was not clear why he felt the US had a claim.

He said: “Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest armada ever assembled in the history of South America.

“It will only get bigger, and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before — until such time as they return to the US all of the oil, land and other assets that they previously stole from us.”

The Venezuelan government said that it “repudiates Trump’s military threat and will defend its rights to free trade, navigation, free development, sovereignty and national independence.”

Cuba’s President Miguel Diaz-Canel announced on Tuesday his country’s “energetic rejection” of the US blockade.

Co-founder of Codepink, Medea Benjamin, called the move “an act of war,” which does not have congressional approval.

She said: “Let’s be clear: Venezuela’s oil belongs to Venezuela, not the US!”

The US based Party for Socialism and Liberation rejected the blockade. It said: “This war, like the war on Iraq, is built on false pretences and imperial ambition. We must organise and mobilise to stop this blockade and prevent a wider war. No war on Venezuela.”

Geopolitical analyst Ben Norton described Mr Trump as being like a “colonial mafia boss” and said the aim of the siege was “to starve Venezuela of resources and oil revenue, to try to collapse its economy.”