President Nicolás Maduro said Thursday that “there is no way” the United States will invade Venezuela and urged his citizens to enlist in the military forces, amid Washington’s announcements of mobilizing troops to the Caribbean.
The United States announced the deployment of five warships and around 4,000 personnel to the southern Caribbean, near Venezuela’s territorial waters, for anti-narcotics maneuvers. The missile destroyer USS Lake Erie was spotted at the Pacific port entrance to the Panama Canal.
The operation also coincides with Washington increasing its reward for Maduro’s capture to $50 million and designating as terrorist a supposed cartel led by the Venezuelan president.
“After 20 continuous days of announcements, threats, psychological warfare, after 20 days of siege against the Venezuelan nation, today we are stronger than yesterday, today we are more prepared to defend peace, sovereignty, and territorial integrity,” Maduro said at a military event. “Neither sanctions, nor blockades, nor psychological warfare, nor siege,” he continued. “They haven’t been able to, nor will they. There is no way they can get into Venezuela.”
Maduro called for a second enlistment day this Friday and Saturday in the Bolivarian Militia, a military component made up of civilians with a strong ideological identity, to face the possible threat. The president said the Armed Forces include 4.5 million militiamen, though experts doubt the figure.
Doubt is treason
Named Bolivarian by Chávez, the Venezuelan Armed Forces make no secret of their politicization. “Chávez lives!” is now their official salute. “Doubt is treason,” read the shields carried by some of the 1,000 troops who completed a course in “revolutionary special operations” and staged a drill before Maduro.
“Honor, sacrifice, honor, and revolution!” shouted Colonel Ramos Salazar, head of the exercise. “Today, my Commander-in-Chief, when we are besieged by the most genocidal empire in the history of humanity, the United States of America, (…) the revolutionary special operators place ourselves on the front line of battle to defend the homeland of Bolívar and Chávez.”
The exercise took place on open terrain, according to footage from state television. Maduro also celebrated security coordination with Colombia, after President Gustavo Petro ordered the militarization of the Catatumbo region (northeast) with 25,000 soldiers.
“Our land we watch, preserve, and protect ourselves, Venezuelans and Colombians united for peace, prosperity, and sovereignty,” Maduro said. He also stressed that amid the current situation, Venezuela has gained “more international support than ever before.”
His ambassador to the United Nations, Samuel Moncada, sent a letter to Secretary General Antonio Guterres urging him to press the U.S. government to “cease once and for all its hostile actions and threats, and respect Venezuela’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, and political independence.”
The letter denounces “the most recent and dangerous developments in the policy of continuous harassment by the U.S. government” against his country.