The Minister of Defense and General-in-Chief of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces, Vladimir Padrino López, has issued a statement announcing that military alert levels have been raised in the country, in compliance, the statement reads, “with orders issued by Nicolás Maduro Moros, Constitutional President of the Bolivarian Republic and Commander-in-Chief.” According to the statement, Padrino's announcement marks the implementation of “a higher phase” of the so-called “Plan Independence 200,” a military response mechanism ordered in September to strengthen defense mechanisms in the face of the United States' military deployment in the Caribbean.

The decision escalates political and military tensions between the United States and Venezuela. While Caracas is making these announcements, the aircraft carrier Gerald Ford—the largest and best-equipped in the U.S. fleet—arrived in Latin America on Tuesday. This was confirmed by the Pentagon, which, without providing details about its location, indicated that the ship will help “disrupt narcotics trafficking and dismantle transnational criminal organizations.” The U.S. military has carried out at least 19 attacks so far against suspected drug-trafficking vessels in the Caribbean and off the Pacific coast of Latin America, killing at least 76 people.

The measure will take effect between Tuesday, November 11, and Wednesday, November 12, and involves"the full operational readiness" of the entire military park of the country, and the massive deployment"of land, air, naval, river and missile means; weapons systems; military units; Bolivarian Militia; Citizen Security Organs and the Comprehensive Defense Commands."

The government is calling for the plan to be implemented following one of the Chavista regime's key organizational principles: "a perfect civic-military-police fusion." In making this announcement, Padrino, speaking on behalf of the country's military leadership, declared that the divisions of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB) are"stronger than ever in their unity, moral cohesion, and equipment, alongside the Venezuelan people, to preserve the country's sacred interests at all costs."

Contrary to some predictions that held the opposite, both throughout 2024, an election year, and in 2025, in which Maduro again assumed functions as president of the Republic, the Venezuelan military has offered new and repeated signs of its total adherence to the interests, narrative and political objectives of Chavismo.

Although the internal situation in the country appears calm - and even incredulity persists in many - the high Chavista government frequently issues warnings in its public speeches about the imminent possibility of a US military attack on Venezuela.

The ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) agreed in an extraordinary assembly to move to “an armed phase of the revolutionary process” should hostilities break out. These kinds of warnings, interspersed with incessant calls for peace, have become increasingly frequent in the statements of the Chavista revolutionary leadership in recent weeks.

Days ago, Maduro stated at a political meeting with his supporters in the labor movement that “the order has been given: if the country is attacked, we will declare a general, insurrectionary, and revolutionary strike.” The Venezuelan president had affirmed on that occasion that the working class “is Venezuela’s greatest shield against imperialist aggression.”