The Nicolás Maduro regime still does not believe that the US military deployment in the Caribbean is to fight drug trafficking and is already resorting to warlike rhetoric to warn the Trump Administration that Venezuela is prepared for a hypothetical war seeking political change in the South American country.

The one in charge of raising the tone has been the Minister of Defense, Vladimir Padrino López, who this Sunday emphasized that his country is preparing to combat"any attack" from the US: "I tell the imperialists of the north that we are preparing and we will fight if you dare to set foot in Venezuela." Maduro himself already warned last week that "nobody touches this land."

Padrino López, for whom the US is offering a reward of 15 million dollars for information leading to his capture for being part of the terrorist organization Cartel of the Suns, denounced that Washington is applying a"siege against the homeland" through "gross and vulgar sanctions" and a "commercial persecution", with the objective of causing an"internal rupture" in Venezuela and "undermining the political leadership".

In response to the US sending seven warships and a nuclear submarine to the coasts bordering Venezuela, the Minister of Defense revealed that there are already 10,380 troops deployed throughout the territory"carrying out different missions" to which 15,000 soldiers were added in recent days on the border with Colombia within the framework of a"preventive defense" strategy.

The Bolivarian leader denounced this Monday that eight US military ships and 1,200 missiles are targeting his country."Venezuela is facing the greatest threat our continent has seen in the last 100 years," Maduro said during a meeting with the international press in Caracas. According to the president, they constitute"an extravagant, unjustifiable, immoral, and absolutely criminal, bloody threat," reports AFP.

Over the weekend, the Venezuelan regime launched the second phase of enlisting 4.5 million militia members to reinforce the National Armed Forces, for which 945 registration points were activated. The Bolivarian leader himself congratulated the people for their"massive participation in the Great Enlistment Day of the Bolivarian Militia," since, he emphasized,"the patriotic men and women responded firmly to the call to reaffirm their commitment to the defense of Venezuela."

Meanwhile, more US ships continue to arrive in Caribbean waters. The latest was the USS Sampson, a destroyer equipped with anti-aircraft and anti-submarine defense, which arrived Saturday at the port of Amador in the Panamanian Pacific, where it was seen refueling. Days earlier, the guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Erie crossed the Panama Canal to join the US military mission already positioned in the Caribbean region, which involves 4,000 Marines.

Among the ships taking part in the naval operation are the destroyers USS Gravely and USS Jason Dunham, which departed from Mayport, Florida. The littoral combat ship USS Minneapolis-St. Paul has also been reported to be present in waters near Curaçao.

Given the proximity of the vessels to Venezuelan waters, the Minister of Defense appeared at a press conference to accuse the US of trying to"sow conflict" in the country and urged the population to remain vigilant and "stand up to fascism and neo-Nazism." Padrino López also insisted that any threat to national sovereignty "will be defeated and neutralized" and, in this regard, recalled that the Bolivarian National Armed Forces are constitutionally obligated to"expel and neutralize any expression of violence."

Far from this bellicose rhetoric, Admiral and new Chief of Naval Operations of the US Navy, Daryl Caudle, said last Thursday that the warships are heading to South American waters to support"Venezuelan operations and missions" related to drug cartels, although he did not reveal the exact location they are heading to or the military objectives, alleging that much of this information is classified.

Emergency meeting of CELAC

In the context of this cold war, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELA), made up of 33 countries, called the foreign ministers of its member states to an"emergency meeting" in virtual format this Monday to address "existing concerns surrounding recent military movements in the Caribbean."

Colombia's Foreign Minister, Rosa Yolanda Villavicencio, who holds the pro tempore presidency of the organization, explained that the objective of the meeting is to address the"possible implications for regional peace, security, and stability" of the US military operation. She recalled that Latin America and the Caribbean have been declared a Zone of Peace and, in that context, emphasized that the CELAC meeting aims to contribute"to the search for agreed-upon solutions for the benefit of the entire region."

For its part, Russia closed ranks around Venezuela on Monday, expressing its"full support and solidarity" in the face of external threats, while rejecting"the use of instruments of political pressure and force against independent states." This was expressed by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov during a meeting in Moscow with the Venezuelan ambassador to Russia, Jesus Salazar Velasquez.

The US naval deployment, unprecedented since the invasion of Panama in 1989, is being exploited by the Maduro regime to try to strengthen its internal power, while it is also a bluff by the Trump Administration to gain greater political influence in Latin America, where several of its leaders, such as those of Colombia and Mexico, do not look favorably on the military tension that is being generated.

However, the US emphasizes that it has the support of several Latin American countries in its particular war against drug trafficking, after declaring eight organized crime groups as global terrorist organizations last February, including the Venezuelan group Tren de Aragua, the Mara Salvatrucha, and six organizations from Mexico. In July, it added the Cartel of the Suns to the list, which Washington believes is led by Maduro, for whom it is offering a $50 million reward for his arrest and to face drug trafficking charges in the US.