Martina Navratilova, the legendary tennis figure, has voiced a strong opinion against American companies seeking to procure Venezuelan oil amidst the political turmoil involving President Donald Trump’s military intervention in the country. Navratilova believes these companies should face sanctions from the International Criminal Court (ICC) for their actions.

The 69-year-old Czech-born athlete shared her perspective in response to a social media post by journalist and documentary filmmaker Lauren Windsor. Windsor had commented on the Trump administration’s proposed ‘oil quarantine’ and military involvement in Venezuela, which prompted Navratilova to weigh in on the matter.

Windsor’s post read, “Any American oil company that expropriates oil from Venezuela should be sanctioned by the International Criminal Court,” a sentiment that Navratilova echoed by sharing and supporting the message on X.

Though Navratilova has previously shown agreement with the Trump administration’s policies regarding transgender athletes in women’s sports, her overall stance towards President Trump remains critical. Despite Trump’s self-proclaimed role as a ‘peacemaker and unifier’ at the start of his second term, Navratilova has expressed skepticism and disapproval of his actions.

In a pointed remark on social media, Navratilova stated, “Peace president my ass! [Trump] is breaking more laws than all the previous presidents combined. A serial criminal on so many different fronts!” Her words highlight her discontent with what she perceives as an administration fraught with legal and ethical breaches.

Navratilova believes US companies should face International Criminal Court sanctions for trying to acquire Venezuelan oil after President Donald Trump’s military takeover

Responding to an X post from journalist and documentary filmmaker Lauren Windsor, Navratilova made her feelings known about the planned ‘oil quarantine’ and takeover 

Navratilova and Windsor are among countless Trump critics who are sounding the alarm about American oil interests in Venezuela.

‘President Trump does not have the constitutional authority to attack another country. When 60% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, he should focus on the crises at home, end his illegal military adventurism and stop trying to ‘run’ Venezuela for Big Oil,’ Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders wrote on X.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth previously said American military strikes on Venezuelan ships in the Caribbean were aimed at stopping illegal drug smuggling, but those claims are coming into question as the Trump administration has maintained its focus on the country’s oil reserves.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested Sunday that the US would not take a day-to-day role in governing Venezuela other than enforcing an existing ‘oil quarantine’ on the country, a turnaround after Trump announced a day earlier that the US would be running Venezuela following its ouster of leader Nicolás Maduro.

Rubio’s statements on TV talk shows seemed designed to temper concerns about whether the assertive American action to achieve regime change might again produce a prolonged foreign intervention or failed attempt at nation-building. They stood in contrast to Trump’s broad but vague claims that the US would at least temporarily ‘run’ the oil-rich nation, comments that suggested some sort of governing structure under which Caracas would be controlled by Washington.

American protestors take part in a demonstration against US military action in Venezuela in Lafayette Square in front of the White House in Washington on Saturday 

But Rubio offered a more nuanced take, saying the US would continue to enforce an oil quarantine that was already in place on sanctioned tankers before Maduro was removed from power early Saturday and using that leverage as a means to press policy changes in Venezuela.

‘And so that’s the sort of control the president is pointing to when he says that,’ Rubio said on CBS’ ‘Face the Nation.’ ‘We continue with that quarantine, and we expect to see that there will be changes, not just in the way the oil industry is run for the benefit of the people, but also so that they stop the drug trafficking.’

The blockade on sanctioned oil tankers – some of which have been seized by the US- ‘remains in place, and that’s a tremendous amount of leverage that will continue to be in place until we see changes that not just further the national interest of the United States, which is number one, but also that lead to a better future for the people of Venezuela,’ he added.

Trump’s vow to ‘run’ Venezuela, repeated more than half a dozen times at a news conference in Florida on Saturday, sparked concerns among some Democrats. It also drew unease from parts of his own Republican coalition, including an ‘America First’ base that is opposed to foreign interventions, and also from observers who recalled past nation-building efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

A protestor takes part in a demonstration against US military action in Venezuela

Rubio dismissed such criticism, saying that Trump’s intent had been misunderstood by a ‘foreign policy establishment’ that was fixated on the Middle East.

‘The whole foreign policy apparatus thinks everything is Libya, everything is Iraq, everything is Afghanistan,’ Rubio said. ‘This is not the Middle East. And our mission here is very different. This is the Western Hemisphere.’

Rubio also suggested that the US would give Maduro’s subordinates who are now in charge time to govern, saying, ‘We’re going to judge everything by what they do, and we’re going to see what they do.’ And though he did not rule out a US military presence in Venezuela, Rubio said the current US ‘force posture’ was capable of stopping drug boats and sanctioned tankers.

A day earlier, Trump told reporters, ‘We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition.’ He later pointed to his national security team with him, including Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and said it would be done for a period of time by ‘the people that are standing right behind me. We’re gonna be running it we’re gonna be bringing it back.’

The White House declined to comment beyond what Trump said Saturday.

Maduro landed late Saturday afternoon at a small airport in New York City’s northern suburbs following the middle-of-the-night operation that extracted him and his wife, Cilia Flores, from their home in a military base in the capital, Caracas – an act that Maduro’s government called ‘imperialist.’ The couple faces US charges of participating in a narco-terrorism conspiracy.

The dramatic seizure of the Maduros capped an intensive Trump administration pressure campaign on Venezuela’s autocratic leader and months of secret planning, resulting in the most assertive American action to achieve regime change since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Legal experts raised questions about the lawfulness of the operation, which was done without congressional approval.

People react to the news of the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Saturday

Venezuela’s vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, meanwhile, demanded that the US free Maduro and called him the country’s rightful leader as her nation’s high court named her interim president.

After arriving at the airport, Maduro was flown by helicopter to Manhattan, where a convoy of law enforcement vehicles, including an armored car, was waiting to whisk him to a nearby US Drug Enforcement Administration office. A video posted on social media by a White House account showed Maduro, smiling, as he was escorted through that office by two DEA agents grasping his arms.

He is due to make his first appearance Monday in Manhattan’s federal court.

Maduro and other Venezuelan officials were indicted in 2020 on narco-terrorism conspiracy charges, and the Justice Department released a new indictment Saturday of Maduro and his wife that painted his administration as a ‘corrupt, illegitimate government’ fueled by a drug-trafficking operation that flooded the U.S with cocaine. The US government does not recognize Maduro as the country’s leader.

Government supporters burn a U.S. flag in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday

The Trump administration spent months building up American forces in the region and carrying out attacks on boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean for allegedly ferrying drugs. Last week, the CIA was behind a drone strike at a docking area believed to have been used by Venezuelan drug cartels – the first known direct operation on Venezuelan soil since the US campaign began in September.

Venezuela’s capital remained unusually quiet Sunday with few vehicles moving around and convenience stores, gas stations and other businesses closed. A road typically filled with runners, cyclists and other fitness enthusiasts on Sundays only had a handful of people working out the day after Maduro was deposed.

The presidential palace was guarded by armed civilians and members of the military. At a nearby plaza, only a street sweeper and a soldier stood, and across the street, a church remained close for a second day in a row.

Caracas resident David Leal arrived to the lot where he parks vehicles for a living only to quickly realize that he would likely not see any clients for a second day.

‘People are still shaken,’ said Leal, 77.