Venezuela has ac­cused US Pres­i­dent Don­ald Trump of “war-mon­ger­ing” and seek­ing to ap­pro­pri­ate its oil and as­sets, and said its am­bas­sador to the Unit­ed Na­tions will de­nounce what it de­scribed as a “se­ri­ous vi­o­la­tion of in­ter­na­tion­al law” against the coun­try.

Venezuela al­so made it clear that its peo­ple, mil­i­tary and po­lice will pro­tect their ter­ri­to­ry, wealth and free­dom.

The claims came in a com­mu­niqué is­sued last night, short­ly af­ter Trump sharply in­creased pres­sure on Venezuela, de­clar­ing its gov­ern­ment a “ter­ror­ist regime” and or­der­ing a “to­tal and com­plete block­ade” of all sanc­tioned oil tankers en­ter­ing or leav­ing the coun­try.