Venezuela dictator Nicolas Maduro warned on Monday (1) to declare his country “in arms” if he faces foreign aggression amid tensions with the United States, which mobilized ships in the Caribbean Sea.
“If Venezuela were attacked, we would immediately enter a period of armed struggle, in defense of the national territory and the history and people of Venezuela, and would constitutionally declare the Republic in arms,” Maduro told a news conference with the international press.
According to the dictator, the South American country has a “eminently defensive” strategy that has been projected “20 years” that includes “two forms of struggle”, one diplomatic and one involving the use of weapons.
“We are in a special preparation period and, under any circumstances, we will ensure the functioning of the country,” added leader Chavista.
Maduro claimed that the US mobilized eight military ships with 1,200 missiles and a nuclear submarine that “targets” his country, which he described as an “unjustifiable, unjustifiable, immoral and absolutely criminal threat.”
The White House reported that the operation aims to prevent drugs to arrive in the United States.
Earlier, Venezuela Foreign Minister Yván Gil Pinto said, during a virtual emergency meeting of the Latin American and Caribbean Community (Celac), that the United States claim to combat drug trafficking in the region is an “excuse” and called “totally false history” the report on “an alleged cartel they called Los Soles cartel.”
At the press conference, Maduro said he considered the current situation “comparable” to the 1962 crisis, when the former Soviet Union tried to install medium -range nuclear missiles in Cuba, which caused a crisis with the US that placed the two superpowers on the brink of an atomic conflict.
Last Wednesday (27), Maduro had accused the United States of violating the 1967 Tlatelolco Treaty, which declared Latin America and the Caribbean as nuclear weapons free zones due to the sending of the nuclear submarine to waters near Venezuela.
White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in August that the United States is prepared to “use all US power” to bring “those responsible” for trafficking drugs to the country in a direct message to the Venezuelan dictator.
On the 7th, the US government doubled the amount it offers for information leading to Maduro’s arrest and conviction, raising the reward to $ 50 million.
At the time, Trump’s Attorney General Pam Bondi said Maduro has links with Venezuelan gangs Tren de Aragua, Cartel de Los Soles (of which he would be leader, according to the US) and the Mexican Cartel de Sinaloa and that the Venezuela dictator is “one of the world’s largest drug traffickers.”
