In the conflict between the United States and Venezuela, President Nicolás Maduro has called on the US government to de-escalate and warned against a "large-scale military conflict."
"None of the differences we have had and continue to have should lead to a large-scale military conflict and violence in South America," Maduro said in a video published on the Telegram messaging platform. There was no justification for this.
He called on the US to abandon what he called "its plan for violent regime change in Venezuela and throughout Latin America" and urged Washington to respect the country's sovereignty.
Maduro also declared that over 5,300 communal militia units had been activated to defend against possible attempts at US-backed "regime change."
"Nobody will come to enslave or colonize us, neither today nor ever," he asserted.
The conflict between Venezuela and the United States has intensified recently. According to media reports, the US deployed several warships off the Venezuelan Caribbean coast in recent weeks. According to these reports, Washington said the deployment was necessary to intercept drug smugglers.
A few days ago, the US claimed that it had fired upon an alleged drug-smuggling boat from Venezuela in the Caribbean, killing 11 suspects.
According to US President Donald Trump, the attack was directed against the Venezuelan drug gang Tren de Aragua, which the US government classifies as a foreign terrorist organization.
As a result, two military aircraft from Venezuela flew close to a US Navy ship in international waters, the US Department of Defence said.
The US spoke of an "extremely provocative action" and warned Venezuela against further attempts to obstruct its operations against "narco-terrorism."
