From Fox News: Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro warned that his country must “stand like warriors … ready to smash the teeth of the North American empire” Wednesday, a moment that coincided with the U.S. seizure of an oil tanker off Venezuela’s coast.
President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that the U.S. had seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, sharply escalating tensions with Caracas. The tanker was taken for allegedly transporting sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran, according to Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Maduro delivered his remarks a day later while holding the sword of Simón Bolívar at a rally where video showed him singing and dancing to a recording of American singer Bobby McFerrin’s late-80s hit, “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.” Maduro told supporters that Venezuelans must stay alert as tensions with Washington escalate.
“In these times, things have to be different, but we must always stand like warriors, women and men,” he said, according to a translated interpretation.
Maduro continued, “With one eye wide open — and the other one too — working, producing, building, keeping everything running, and ready to smash the teeth of the North American empire if necessary, from Bolivar’s homeland.”
Venezuela’s Foreign Ministry responded to the U.S. action on the tanker. In an official statement, he called it “a brazen robbery and an act of international piracy” and accusing Trump of openly pursuing a plan to “take Venezuelan oil without paying anything in return.”
NEW: Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro starts singing 1988 hit song ‘Don’t Worry Be Happy’ at a rally as the U.S. seized an oil tanker off Venezuela’s coast.
“To American citizens who are against the war, I respond … Don’t worry, be happy,” he said in Spanish before singing.
“Not… pic.twitter.com/Dt9tYRXTDI
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) December 11, 2025
At a rally where he danced to “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” and threatened to “smash the teeth of the North American empire,” Nicolás Maduro escalates his rhetoric after U.S. seizure of Venezuelan oil tanker.https://t.co/2Yk7SBx9U1
— Fox News (@FoxNews) December 12, 2025
LEGAL PROCESS: U.S. details plans for oil from tanker captured near Venezuela
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