Military forces travel Caracas in a meeting with residents in the midst of tension with the US

Caracas (AP) – A caravan with dozens of crowded tanks toured on Saturday the Venezuelan capital as part of a deployment of the armed forces called “encounter with the people”, while the tension with the United States persists by the presence of war ships in Caribbean.

The Minister of Defense, Vladimir Padrino López, said that the meeting is part of the strengthening and training of the communal units of the militias (armed civilians).

Venezuela “has been permanently assaulted, harassed by imperialism and we have not left ourselves,” he emphasized.

From early hours, the army moved to the communities where settlers joined in squares, streets, ports and beaches to perform training exercises.

“Here we are in the streets in defense of the peace of our country,” Joel Guerrero told The Associated Press and noted that “there is a town willing to maintain the peace of their country.”

The military deployment is part of the strategy arranged by President Nicolás Maduro that He called civilians to mourn and train Before what he considers an alleged American invasion threat to force a change of government. The country has also carried out military exercises in the immediate vicinity of La Orchilla Island, 160 kilometers from Caracas.

From the Petare area in Caracas, the Interior Minister, Diosdado Cabello, who arrived in one of the tanks, said that in the South American country there is a mobilization “in perfect civic-military fusion.”

“Here is Venezuela prepared in any neighborhood, in any community, in any police barracks,” he added.

The tension between both nations arose after US President Donald Trump ordered the Deployment of warships in Caribbean’s waters with the argument of fighting Latin American drug cartels.

The US army has executed at least Two attacks on vessels allegedly with drugs He says they left Venezuela, leaving more than a dozen dead. Maduro’s government has described it as an “extrajudicial murder.”

Trump’s administration has accused Maduro of leading a poster to flood his drug country, so he also doubled A reward for its capture of 25 to 50 million dollars.

The United States Government He has not given signs that he plans to make an incursion land with the more than 4,000 troops that are deployed in the area.