Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has declared that the country is fully prepared to defend itself against any potential U.S. military aggression, warning that Caracas will not “shrink from a fight” if Washington escalates tensions further. His comments come amid the deployment of a U.S. naval armada off Venezuela’s shores, officially described by the Pentagon as part of a drug enforcement operation but viewed in Caracas as a direct threat to sovereignty.
“We’re ready for a fight, if it’s necessary,” Maduro said in a televised address. “Along all of Venezuela’s coasts, from the border with Colombia to the east of the country, from north to south and east to west, we have full preparation. We are only defending Venezuela’s right to peace. No one can come to disturb either independence, territorial integrity, or the sovereignty of our peoples.”
According to Maduro, Venezuelan troops and civilian militias have been mobilized across 284 potential battlefront locations, reinforcing defensive positions in anticipation of possible clashes. Venezuela’s defense apparatus includes a 95,000 to 150,000-strong conventional army supported by a 4.5 million-person people’s militia, as well as significant stockpiles of tanks, aircraft, warships, and a growing domestic drone industry developed with Iranian support.
The rhetoric has sharpened following an incident last week in which 11 people were killed after a U.S. operation targeted a boat in the Caribbean. While Washington insists the strike was against drug traffickers, Venezuelan officials have rejected this narrative. On Thursday, Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello accused the U.S. of “murdering civilians,” calling the action further proof of U.S. aggression.
The Pentagon, meanwhile, has dismissed these accusations, maintaining its stance that the Maduro government is an “illegitimate narco-terrorist regime.” The escalating war of words has fueled fears that the standoff could spiral into open confrontation, raising alarm across Latin America, where regional governments remain divided over how to respond to Venezuela’s defiance of U.S. pressure.
Observers warn that any military escalation would not only destabilize Venezuela but could also reverberate across the Caribbean and South America, deepening geopolitical fault lines and drawing in external players such as Iran, Russia, and China, who have maintained strong ties with Caracas in defiance of U.S. sanctions.
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