Socialist dictator of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro warned on Thursday that the South American nation is in constant preparation for an “armed struggle” to defend “democracy and peace” ahead of a purported invasion against his authoritarian regime.
Maduro, who was sworn in for a third illegitimately obtained presidential term on January 10, issued the threats in a speech on state media channel VTV commemorating the 67th anniversary of the end of the dictatorship of Marcos Pérez Jiménez in 1958.
“We are not playing games. We are preparing, permanently, for the armed struggle in defense of democracy, peace, institutionality, stability and the right to the future of Venezuela,” Maduro told sympathizers at a regime rally in Caracas.
“They have pretended to threaten us, and I tell you from this balcony of the people, this is [Hugo] Chávez’s balcony and if Maduro is here, Chávez is here with Maduro and with the people,” Maduro asserted.
The socialist dictator’s threats came as the Venezuelan armed forces finished a series of military exercises titled “Bolivarian Shield 2025,” which ran from January 22 to 23 “to keep the Republic’s muscle trained, ready to defend against external threats, internal threats.” Maduro ordered the military exercises to coincide with the start of President Donald Trump’s new administration this week.
According to Maduro, the “Bolivarian Shield 2025” exercises sought the promotion of “full control over the constructs and instruments to facilitate interventionist scenarios in Venezuela that have been coordinated by the internal and global right wing, and which the nation has successfully faced.”
“This must be the most complete and perfect exercise from the point of view of territorial defense,” Maduro said on Wednesday. “If you want peace, get ready to defend it and build it.”
On Sunday, regime-affiliated outlets published a video of Maduro — amid what appeared to be a “workout routine” — announcing the military exercises as he rallied “to charge, to battle, to victory!”
Maduro further claimed that a second goal of the military exercises was the “need to protect all the country’s borders with Colombia, as well as the defense of all maritime, aerospace and land areas in general.” The socialist dictator justified his statements by claiming that “proven drug traffickers [sic] such as former [Colombian] President Álvaro Uribe” called for an international intervention in Venezuela.
“Venezuela is not a homeland of slaves, nor of cowards, we have made ourselves respected by the world,” Maduro said on Thursday, stressing that the effort that his socialist regime has made to keep the nation “free and democratic” has been “beautiful.”
According to Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López, 150,000 troops participated in the military exercises across 290 nationwide “strategic” exercises.
Padrino López, who is actively wanted by U.S. authorities on drug trafficking charges, threatened on Wednesday with a “strong response” against those that call for a military intervention in Venezuela either from within the country or from “beyond the border.”
The Venezuelan socialist regime’s military exercises and Maduro’s threats of an “armed struggle” occur as Cuba’s communist regime, one of the Venezuelan socialists’ key ideological allies, is presently carrying out a round of military exercises to “increase the country’s readiness for defense” following the start of President Donald Trump’s new administration on January 20.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
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