Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado urged the Venezuelan Armed Forces on Thursday to take a stand against the regime of Nicolás Maduro, accused by the United States of leading the Cartel of the Suns.
"In Venezuela, we are clear that these mobilizations (the US military deployment in the Caribbean Sea) are not against Venezuelans, but against a drug trafficking structure. Everything will be known and history will be implacable with those who do the right thing and with those who do nothing, who pretend to remain neutral in the face of the horror of what is happening in Venezuela," said the opposition leader in an interview with the news program VOZ News.
A call that extended to the governments of the"hemisphere."
"Either they stand with a criminal organization and the tyrant who violates human rights, commits crimes against humanity, and commits state terrorism, or they stand with the people of Venezuela, justice, and democracy," he added in his speech.
Since Monday, Machado has called for a"clandestine organization" against Maduro, who was declared the winner of the July 28, 2024, presidential election by the National Electoral Council, which is accused of serving him. The opposition, led by Machado, cried fraud and insisted that its candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia, emerged victorious.
"Maduro, you who are so afraid of being invaded, the forces that will remove you from power are already here, inside Venezuela, and there are millions of us," Machado said in a video on social media from hiding.
Machado is accused by the regime of leading conspiracies against the president. Nearly 1,000 people—including leaders in her inner circle—have been arrested since July 28.
Machado again called for support from the military, who often swear absolute loyalty to Maduro."Don't desert, protect yourselves, form teams of extreme trust, and prepare to defend what the people ordered on July 28."
A retired officer who once held high-ranking positions in the Armed Forces told AFP that he ruled out any possibility of an uprising due to the level of fear within the military.
The United States announced the deployment of five warships and some 4,000 troops to the southern Caribbean, near Venezuelan territorial waters, for counter-drug maneuvers.
The operation also coincides with the increase to $50 million in the reward Washington is offering for Maduro's capture and the declaration of an alleged cartel led by the Venezuelan president as a terrorist organization.
