Public employees, housewives, retirees, the line is long and varied in front of a plaza in Caracas. Dozens of people enlisted on Saturday in the Venezuelan military forces to join the ranks amid fears of a possible US invasion, amid tensions generated by Washington's military deployment in the Caribbean Sea.
The regime's leader, Nicolás Maduro, called for the registration of the Bolivarian Militia to be opened this weekend and on other weekends. This is a body attached to the Armed Forces that is made up of civilians and that its critics claim has a high ideological charge.
It is also a show of force in the face of what it considers a"threat" to its power. Three missile destroyers will be positioned in international waters off the coast of Venezuela, although Washington claims that these are operations against drug trafficking.
Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino also urged people not to"get nervous" ahead of the enlistment day.
"No one should become nervous. I say to the international community, this is not a national mobilization," Padrino stated.
According to the military chief, it is"a voluntary mobilization of the people to register in a very powerful body that the Bolivarian revolution has created," and which, he said, is"spread throughout the national territory."
The Militia set up registration centers in plazas and military and public buildings, including the Miraflores Palace in Caracas.
Also in the so-called Mountain Barracks, where the remains of the late socialist leader Hugo Chávez (1999-2013) rest.
It is located on 23 de Enero, a populous bastion of Chavismo where large social housing buildings mingle with dilapidated exposed brick houses.
"Have you served before?" a female soldier in camouflage uniform asks Óscar Matheus, who waited patiently in line until he reached the plastic registration table.
"I'm here to serve our country," the 66-year-old auditor told AFP."We don't know what might happen, but we have to prepare and continue resisting."
"The country is calling us; the country needs us," says 51-year-old Rosy Paravabith.
The Venezuelan Armed Forces do not hide their politicization.
Christened Bolivarian by Chávez, the Venezuelan Armed Forces make no secret of their politicization and co-optation by the regime."Chávez lives!" is their official greeting today.
It is also unclear how many troops it has. In 2020 it had around 343,000 members, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), a size similar to that of Mexico (341,000), and only surpassed in Latin America by Colombia (428,000) and Brazil (762,000).
Maduro said, however, this week that the Militia alone had more than 4.5 million soldiers.
"I'm enlisting for Venezuela, long live the homeland!" the volunteers shouted after registering. Police officers and even reservist militiamen showed up to reaffirm their commitment.
The Cuartel de la Montaña (Mountain Barracks) is located on a mountain overlooking all of Caracas. It's a former military museum where Chávez coordinated his failed coup attempt in 1992.
Once registered, the volunteers go to a room where a documentary is shown about the blockade of the Venezuelan coast by European nations between 1902 and 1903, due to the refusal of then-President Cipriano Castro to pay the foreign debt.
The 2017 film shows armed peasants. Some are shooting, others are analyzing maps. Warships can be seen in the distance.
In the next room, some of the weapons are on display: a 50-caliber machine gun from the United States, a Swedish Carl Gustaf grenade launcher, a Soviet-made RPG rocket launcher, and a Belgian 7.62-mm machine gun.
An Army lieutenant explains in technical language the range, the space where each one can be used, and what for.
"Can this be shot into the sky?" asks one of the attendees."It's better to use it in a linear fashion," the soldier replies.
Tensions are rising in Venezuela due to the US military deployment.
The United States has already made deployments to the Caribbean in the past.
But this time it coincides with the increase to $50 million in the bounty on Maduro and the accusation against him of leading an alleged drug trafficking gang known as the Cartel of the Suns, which President Donald Trump has classified as a terrorist organization.
Maduro asserts that this"immoral, criminal, and illegal" mobilization only seeks "regime change."
On the streets of Venezuela, the topic is being raised with both jokes and concern, although experts currently see the possibility of a direct U.S. operation against Venezuela as a distant prospect.
The opposition called for people not to enlist. Volunteers of all ages are in the ranks.
"I want to train to defend the homeland," says 19-year-old Jesús Bórquez.
