Spanish
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro assured this Thursday that no foreign "threat or aggression" intimidates the Venezuelan people, who have taken decisive steps to defend the sovereignty of their country.
"Today we say in Venezuela: there is no threat or aggression that frightens our people or takes us by surprise. Our people have prepared with serenity to defend their homeland, their soil, their seas, their sky, their soul and their history, with [Simón] Bolívar at the forefront," said the president in a message addressed to the Bolivarian Military Aviation on the occasion of its anniversary.
He also highlighted that Venezuela has drawn "great lessons" from the current situation, "which in previous years, full of apparent calm", would have been impossible to "see with the clarity" that the nation has today, which corresponds to "the national interests and the right to peace" of the people.
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Ready to defend the homeland with arms
In that sense, he called to remember that after the beginning of the extensive US military deployment in the Caribbean Sea, which has now reached 17 weeks, the military exercises 'Operation Independence 200' have been carried out throughout Venezuelan territory. This has allowed us to demonstrate "an immense capacity for coordination, command, control, communication. And, above all, of popular-military-police unity, which expresses the desire of all Venezuela to defend" its "right to peace and stability", in accordance with what is enshrined in the local Constitution and international law, today expressed in a "broad national consensus", he detailed. "All surveys […] indicate that more than 94% of Venezuelans reject the threats of military aggression, immoral psychological warfare and everything that has to do with imperialist encroachment on our wealth: oil, gas, gold. More than 94% support the peace effort that is being made and […] 82% of Venezuelans say they are willing to defend their sacred homeland with weapons in hand," he said. To this he added that the results of the polls "are not statistics" but "a historical mandate": "to defend the homeland and always guarantee the victory of independence and peace." Ready to respond Regarding the specific preparation work in the territory in the face of a possible aggression, he referred to the enlistment days, the training of militiamen in military barracks and the training of communities by military units, all of which has resulted in an improvement in defense capabilities.
