PNN – Amid escalating tensions between Washington and Caracas after the US sent troops to waters near Venezuela under the pretext of fighting drug trafficking, the country’s president described the Venezuelan people as “brave.”
According to the report of Pakistan News Network, citing Venezuelan state television (VTV), as tensions between Washington and Caracas escalate following the deployment of US forces in the Caribbean and waters near Venezuela to fight drug cartels, President Nicolas Maduro and Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino announced the unity and integrity of the country’s people, who are on alert in the form of paramilitary forces.
In a statement, referring to published images of the preparation and training of popular forces to confront a possible invasion by American forces, Maduro emphasized: These are the brave and heroic people of Venezuela! I have seen young people, ordinary men and women in the country’s barracks, participating in the first phase of training and preparation to defend territorial integrity, independence and peace. Under maximum pressure! Maximum unity! Without any hesitation!
Padrino also said: What they are ultimately after is invading a country and imposing regime change, not fighting drug trafficking. This is a real farce that the United States has created by stationing its navy in the Caribbean. This is a complete deception, and I say to the soldiers of the United States, who are flesh and blood human beings like us, are you preparing yourself to commit such a shameful act? Don’t you think that this would harm your military honor and pride? Honor is one of the values that drives us in the military.
Last week, amid an escalation of the US military presence near Caracas, the Venezuelan president announced yesterday the deployment of 25,000 additional troops along the Venezuelan coast. Maduro stressed that the main purpose of the mobilization of forces is to protect Venezuela’s sovereignty and national security and to fight for peace.
Yesterday, the Associated Press reported that following the dispatch of Washington’s warships to waters near Caracas, personnel from one of the American ships attacked a Venezuelan fishing boat. Venezuelan Foreign Minister Juan Gil Pinto said in a statement that personnel from a US Navy destroyer illegally and hostilely boarded a Venezuelan fishing boat and that 18 armed men remained on board for eight hours, preventing the fishermen from communicating and carrying out their normal activities. They were later released under escort by the Venezuelan Navy.
Referring to the US goal of insisting on the failed policy of regime change in Venezuela, the Venezuelan Foreign Minister added: Those who order such provocative actions are looking for an incident to escalate military tension in the Caribbean. The statement came a few days after Trump said the US had attacked a drug ship, killing 11 people. Trump claimed that the ship was carrying members of the “Tren de Aragua” gang from Venezuela, but the Trump administration provided no evidence for this claim!
US Attorney General Pam Bundy recently offered a $50 million reward for information leading to the arrest of Maduro, whom the Trump administration has accused of being the head of the Cartel de los Soles. The US Attorney General’s move was immediately followed by the dispatch of several US warships to the Caribbean under the pretext of combating drug cartels in the region.
Maduro has emphasized that the main reason for the US to deploy troops in the Caribbean region is Venezuela’s oil and natural gas reserves. The US president said today, in response to a question about the possibility of a military attack on Venezuelan soil, that we will soon see what happens.