CNN exclusive: Maduro tells people in the US to unite with Venezuela for peace of the Americas
By Stefano Pozzebon, Michael Rios, CNN
(CNN) — The people of the United States should unite with Venezuela for the peace of the Americas, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro told CNN’s Stefano Pozzebon in the middle of a rally in Caracas on Thursday.
His exclusive remarks come amid heightened tensions with the US, which has deployed warships to the Caribbean to target what it claims are drug trafficking vessels from Venezuela. Though Washington insists the military buildup is aimed at disrupting the flow of narcotics to the United States, Caracas believes the US is really trying to force regime change.
Maduro urged the US against entering another prolonged conflict, asking its people in Spanish: “To unite for the peace of (the Americas). No more endless wars. No more unjust wars. No more Libya. No more Afghanistan.”
Asked if he had a message for US President Donald Trump, Maduro replied in English: “Yes peace, yes peace.”
He did not directly answer whether he was concerned about possible aggression from the US. Instead, he simply replied that he was focused on governing his country with peace.
Maduro was attending a mass rally for Venezuela’s youth, whom he later urged to resist what he described as a threat of invasion from the US.
Over the past three months, the US has amassed roughly 15,000 personnel in the Caribbean alongside more than a dozen warships, including an aircraft carrier described as the US Navy’s “most lethal combat platform.”
The build-up, considered the largest US military presence in the region since the invasion of Panama in 1989, has raised speculation that the US may be preparing for a larger conflict.
The US says it has carried out at least 20 strikes against alleged drug trafficking vessels in the Caribbean and the Pacific, killing 80 people.
CNN has reported that the Trump administration is considering plans to target cocaine facilities and drug trafficking routes inside the South American nation. But the administration has also told Congress in recent days that the US did not have a legal justification that would support strikes within Venezuela, though CNN has reported that officials are considering what such a legal opinion would look like.
Venezuela has responded by launching a massive mobilization of military personnel as well as militia forces made up of civilians. The units have been carrying out exercises across the country to prepare for any potential threat from the US.
The country also appears to have installed large objects on a key highway that are commonly used to block military vehicles such as tanks. A satellite image captured by Vantor on November 10 shows “hedgehog” anti-vehicle obstacles on the Caracas-La Guaira highway, which is the main route into the city from the coast. The obstacles first appeared there over a month ago.
Venezuela’s conventional military, the Bolivarian National Armed Forces, has some 123,000 members. Maduro has also claimed that his volunteer militias now have more than 8 million reservists, though experts have called into question that number as well as the quality of the troops’ training.
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CNN’s Avery Schmitz contributed to this report
