"Venezuela tells the international community that, at the moment, a ship with 25 tonnes of soy for producing food in our country are being kept in the Panama Canal due to the criminal blockade imposed by [US President] Donald Trump," Rodriguez said on Twitter.
La República Bolivariana de Venezuela denuncia ante el mundo q en este momento se encuentra retenido en el Canal de Panamá un barco q trae 25 mil toneladas de torta de soya para producción de alimentos en nuestro país, en atención al criminal bloqueo impuesto x @realDonaldTrump
— Delcy Rodríguez (@DrodriguezVen) August 7, 2019
Her statement comes after Trump issued an executive order on Tuesday to freeze assets held by the Venezuelan government in the United States.
Rodriguez added that an owner of the detained ship was told by an insurance company that he had been banned from bringing goods to Venezuela due to the sanctions.
She described it as a violation of international law and the UN Charter.
Venezuela has long been suffering from a humanitarian and political crisis that intensified in January when, after disputing President Nicolas Maduro's re-election, US-backed opposition leader Juan Guaido illegally declared himself the country’s interim president.
The United States and some other countries have recognized Guaido. However, Russia, China, Cuba, Bolivia, Turkey and a number of other countries have said they recognize Maduro as the only legitimate president of Venezuela.
