Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro announced this Thursday that on the upcoming October 4th, a “special organizational exercise” will be deployed throughout the country, in which the four components of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces and the Bolivarian Militias will participate, as part of the country’s preparation against the US military threat. “We are planning a special exercise for Saturday of an organizational, command, leadership, and communication nature for the entire professional structure of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces and the entire structure of the Bolivarian Militia from the national command, regional command, the comprehensive defense areas in each municipality […], in the communal militia units […] and in all 15,751 comprehensive defense bases […]”, said the president during a work session from outside Caracas. He also explained that the operation was decided after a meeting he held with part of the High General Staff in which “all plans” and “substantial progress” in defense matters obtained during the last weeks were reviewed, after the U.S. deployed destroyers, fighters, missiles and a nuclear submarine near the South American nation with the argument of combating drug cartels. Let’s do a check exercise, command, conduction, communications […]. It is not an exercise in the movement of armaments but an organizational one, to leave all the mechanisms of territorial defense, of national defense of our homeland, even more fine-tuned (prepared), because Venezuela is respected. Venezuela builds its military popular power, an immense military popular power
This day, the Venezuelan Minister of Defense, Vladimir Padrino López, denounced the overflight of at least five U.S. F-35 fighter jets off the Venezuelan coast. “We are seeing them, I want you to know. And I want you to know that that does not intimidate us, it does not intimidate the people of Venezuela,” he warned.
