Key points
- Trump threatens to shoot down jets
- Maduro demands end to regime change
- Urges respect for sovereignty
ISLAMABAD: Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro declared on Friday that the country remains in a phase of “unarmed struggle,” but warned that any attack would escalate the nation into “armed struggle.”
Addressing troops during the “operational and organisational activation of the entire Bolivarian National Militia,” Maduro said Venezuela is now in an “enlistment and preparation phase,” reports Anadolu Ajansi.
He stressed that the nation will advance with “the deployment of the defensive, training, and retraining capacities of the entire population.” Training sessions dubbed “activation days” are being introduced to prepare Venezuelans for a potential US military deployment.
Regime change
Maduro explicitly demanded that US President Donald Trump “abandon his plan for a violent regime change in Venezuela and throughout Latin America, and the Caribbean. And respect the sovereignty, the right to peace, and the independence of our countries.”
His remarks followed President Trump’s warning that Venezuelan aircraft would be “shot down” if they approached US naval vessels, which occurred after two F‑16 fighter jets conducted a fly‑over of a US warship. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office: “I would say they’re going to be in trouble. We’ll let them know about that … if they fly in a dangerous position.” The Pentagon had labelled the overflight “highly provocative.”
Demanding respect
Maduro insisted that “Venezuela has always been willing to talk” with the US, yet he reaffirmed his demand for “respect for our country.”
Earlier in the day, Foreign Minister Yván Gil criticised the deployment of US aircraft—including ten F‑35 fighters sent to a base in Puerto Rico—calling it a threat to his government.
He accused US Secretary of State Marco Rubio of justifying this deployment “using as a pretext a supposed pursuit of drug trafficking,” a claim Gil dismissed as “the biggest lie.”
