Martina Navratilova expresses support for criminal sanctions to US companies that take oil from Venezuela

Tennis

Martina Navratilova expresses support for criminal sanctions to US companies that take oil from Venezuela

Former tennis champion writes 'love it' in response to post calling for International Criminal Court action

Jackson Thompson Fox News

Published

January 4, 2026 6:00am EST

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Women's tennis legend Martina Navratilova took to social media on Saturday to share her thoughts on the U.S. intervention in Venezuela, supporting the idea of criminal sanctions on American companies that try to take oil from the country.

Navratilova praised a post on X suggesting the sanctions, writing "love it" in response to journalist Lauren Windsor's post that read, "Any American oil company that expropriates oil from Venezuela should be sanctioned by the International Criminal Court."

Navratilova later shared further thoughts about the operation that resulted in the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, with President Donald Trump saying that the U.S. will "run" Venezuela until a transition of power is complete.

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"Holding a country hostage while pillaging its natural resources. Next stop- either Greenland or Nigeria," Navratilova wrote in response to a thread that included a report about Wall Street firm officials in the finance, energy and defense sectors visiting Venezuela after the recent strikes.

Roughly twice the size of California, Venezuela holds the world’s largest proven oil reserves. At an estimated 300 billion barrels, about 20% of the global total and nearly four times U.S. reserves, that endowment dwarfs that of any other nation.

Venezuela’s stockpile, now larger than those of energy titans like Saudi Arabia, has become a central flashpoint in the geopolitical struggle surrounding the country’s future.

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Venezuela’s reserves are dominated by heavy and extra-heavy crude that requires specialized equipment, constant maintenance and advanced refining capacity, much of which has deteriorated after years of underinvestment and skilled labor losses.

During his address on Saturday, Trump accused Venezuela’s socialist government of seizing American energy assets and dismantling an industry built with U.S. investment.

"Venezuela unilaterally seized and sold American oil, American assets and American platforms, costing us billions and billions of dollars," Trump said. "They took all of our property."

"We built Venezuela’s oil industry with American talent, drive and skill, and the socialist regime stole it from us," he added.

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Trump added that U.S. energy companies would play a key role in rebuilding the Latin American country’s oil sector.

"We are going to have our very large United States oil companies go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken oil infrastructure and start making money for the country," he said.

Fox News Digital's Amanda Macias contributed to this report.

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Jackson Thompson is a sports reporter for Fox News Digital covering critical political and cultural issues in sports, with an investigative lens. Jackson's reporting has been cited in federal government actions related to the enforcement of Title IX, and in legacy media outlets including The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Associated Press and ESPN.com.

Martina Navratilova expresses support for criminal sanctions to US companies that take oil from Venezuela