Maduro: Venezuela Will Engage in Armed Struggle If the U.S. Attacks
According to the English section of webangah News Agency, citing Anadolu Agency, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro emphasized that his country would resort to “armed struggle” if attacked.
The president stated that while Venezuela is ”still in a phase of unarmed resistance,” any attack would trigger a response from “the entire population against aggression, whether local, regional, or national.”
Maduro added: “No cocaine is produced in Venezuela. That is an American lie-just like the false claim Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction (which was used as a pretext to invade Iraq). They are lying about caracas too.”
Earlier, he announced that amid escalating tensions with the US due to increased washington military presence in the caribbean Sea, over 8 million Venezuelans have been called up as part of the “Bolivarian National Militias.”
During a meeting with government officials and armed forces broadcast on state television, Maduro said: “A powerful base of 4.5 million well-trained militiamen has also been mobilized. The more than 8 million registered in the Bolivarian National Militias will join them.”
He described this call-up as an effort to strengthen logistical and organizational capacity to ensure Venezuela’s security and defense against internal and external threats. He emphasized that this mobilization marks the first stage of an ongoing process aimed at preparing popular forces.
Tensions have risen following US troop deployments off caribbean coasts under the pretext of combating Venezuelan drug cartels. Two Venezuelan F-16 fighter jets recently flew over a US Navy destroyer operating nearby.
Reuters reported citing two US officials that this incident-which Pentagon claimed occurred in international waters-intensified strains between Washington and Caracas just two days after a US strike on a Venezuelan boat killed 11 crew members.
