Socialist dictator of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro on Saturday ordered the Bolivarian Armed Forces (FANB) to develop missile and drone systems with allied nations for the defense of the country’s right “to exist, to live in peace,” and to have its “own free, independent, socialist, and sovereign model.”
Maduro publicly issued the order to the Venezuelan Armed Forces during a speech and military parade in Los Proceres, Caracas, marking the 214th anniversary of Venezuela’s July 5 Independence Day. Venezuela also observes July 5 as the “Venezuelan Armed Forces Day,” with that day’s parade simultaneously commemorating both observances.
Addressing Integral Defense Zone commander Jose Ramon Figuera Valdés, Maduro said, “We must strengthen our capacity for modern warfare, Figuera Valdés, we must strengthen our air and anti-aircraft defense systems, listen, with our own technology and with the help of our great allies and friends around the world. Yes, with the help of our great friends. We must continue to strengthen our drone and anti-drone systems with our own technology.”
“We have made progress. Our people should know that we have made considerable progress. Thanks to our scientists and engineers, whom I would like to salute here. To our military personnel, who have put us at the forefront of anti-drone systems and drone systems,” he continued. “We are obliged to do so, and we are doing so, and we must move forward.”
According to VTV, the Maduro regime’s main propaganda news channel, Maduro said during his speech, “We have shown the weapons that can be shown at this historic moment,” reportedly referring to the Venezuelan Armed Forces’ missile systems that were showcased throughout the parade. Those systems, according to Maduro, are meant for the defense of Venezuela’s “own model: free, independent, socialist, and sovereign.”
The socialist dictator also urged FANB — a military body entirely subservient to the dictator and the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) — to continue implementing his “Seven Transformations” socialist government plan, thereby accelerating the “21st century military revolution” initiated by his predecessor, late dictator Hugo Chávez.
In recent years, the Venezuelan socialist regime has sought increased military support from Russia and Iran, two of its key allies, and has incorporated both Russian and Iranian equipment and vehicles into the Venezuelan military’s arsenal. Among the most notable additions to the Venezuelan armed forces are Iranian military drone technology and Russian firearms, helicopters, and airplanes. Hugo Chávez, who established his regime’s deep ties with both Russia and Iran, first unveiled the Venezuelan regime’s plans to develop and manufacture Iranian drones in 2012, less than a year before he died from an undisclosed type of cancer in early 2013.
Recently, nearly 20 years since late dictator Chávez first announced it, Venezuela and Russia reportedly opened their first Kalashnikov rifle ammunition factory in the central Venezuelan city of Maracay. According to local outlets, the factory would produce “up to 70 million” cartridges per year and “there are plans to launch other ammunition production facilities in the near future, which will ensure a complete production cycle for ammunition and Kalashnikov assault rifles for the Venezuelan Army, police, and other law enforcement agencies.”
In late June, Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado warned that Venezuela is the only country in the Western Hemisphere with the capacity to produce Iranian combat drones and stressed the potential threat to the United States given Venezuela’s “hours-away” distance from Florida.
“The West wants to save itself, yes, but for the West to be saved, the first step is to understand that the greatest risk lies in Venezuela and cannot be contained within our borders,” Machado said. “And that has become crystal clear. Who is Putin’s greatest ally in Latin America? Nicolás Maduro. Who is the Iranian regime’s greatest ally in Latin America? Nicolás Maduro.”
Iranian drones have already been featured in past editions of Venezuela’s July 5 Independence Day military parade, making their first appearance during the July 5, 2022 parade. The Iranian Mohajer-2 drones showcased in the 2022 parade were reportedly rebranded by the Venezuelan regime as the “Antonio José de Sucre-100,” naming the drones after a Venezuelan independence hero.
Reports published in January indicated that Venezuela and Iran signed a deal to set up an Iranian drone development facility at the El Libertador air base, also located in Maracay, where training for Venezuelan military personnel is also being carried out.
On Saturday, Machado, who has been in hiding since January facing threats of arrest and dubious “treason” charges, issued a video to the Venezuelan Armed Forces denouncing the degradation of the Venezuelan Military under the Maduro regime and its links to rogue regimes such as Cuba, Iran, Russia, and China, as well as the socialist regime’s links to international terrorist organizations and drug trafficking networks. Machado appealed to the Venezuelan military for the “liberation” of the country, stressing that “the regime will fall and there will be justice.”
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here
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