Spanish
Venezuela activated this Wednesday in the states of Carabobo and La Guaira, located in the north of the country facing the Caribbean Sea, the "Independence Plan 200", announced last September, amid the tension between Caracas and Washington over the US naval deployment in waters near the South American nation.
The Minister of the Interior, Diosdado Cabello, led an event in La Guaira along with the governor of that state, José Alejandro Terán, the commander of the Integral Defense Operational Zone (ZODI) in that region, Admiral Gregorio Briceño, and a group of uniformed personnel and militiamen, to begin the "deployment" exercise in those regions.
"Now with the siege that North American imperialism has attempted against our country, all of Venezuela is mobilized, organized (...) in territorial actions in the states of La Guaira and (...) Carabobo, within the framework of the 'Independence 200' operation," Cabello affirmed, in a broadcast on the state channel Venezolana de Televisión (VTV).
The Interior Minister detailed that they have a list of "checkups", "of activities" and will cover "very clear objectives" in institutions, organizations and public services, among which he mentioned infrastructure such as airports, ports, among others.
In that context, he assured that the Venezuelan people are "peaceful", but warned that "they have been preparing conscientiously", "actively" and "on all fronts to resist, for as long as necessary, the attacks they want to make" on the country.
For his part, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro highlighted the beginning of the exercise, which, he assured, will include "27 territorial actions".
"From 12:00 at night, 0:00 hours (04:00 GMT), the 'Independence 200' exercise of integral activation of all defense, resistance and permanent offensive plans in the La Guaira Integral Defense Zone and in the Carabobo Integral Defense Zone simultaneously began," Maduro affirmed in a video released on his Telegram account.
The ruler indicated that it is a "new activation modality" in the ZODIs - as these kinds of military divisions of the territory are called - which was launched from 5:00 local time (09:00 GMT), and included the Bolivarian National Militia "and all social and popular forces".
"There are 27 tasks to be fulfilled to comprehensively secure and protect the Integral Defense Zone La Guaira and Carabobo," added the president, who indicated that in this way they will be "refining step by step the military, popular machinery" of what he described as a "powerful national movement for the defense" of peace, sovereignty and the "right to the future" of his country.
This action occurs amidst the new episode of tensions that Caracas and Washington have been experiencing since August, following the US military deployment in the Caribbean Sea waters near Venezuela, which the Republican government defends as an operation against the alleged drug trafficking coming from the South American nation, while the Maduro administration insists that it is a "threat" to promote a "regime change".
According to The New York Times, this Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump canceled diplomatic efforts to reach an agreement with Venezuela, instructing his special envoy, Richard Grenell, to halt all outreach.
This Tuesday, Maduro dismissed that his US counterpart has ordered to cancel diplomatic efforts to reach an agreement with the South American country.
