Venezuelans Rally in Caracas in Support of President Maduro

The Venezuelan leader calls for 8.2 million to join the Bolivarian Militia.

On Friday, thousands of citizens took to the streets in support of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who had previously called for a “great day of organization and mobilization of forces.”

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The day before, the Venezuelan leader announced that he expected about 8.2 million people to join the Bolivarian National Militia (MNB) in response to U.S. threats.

Since mid-August, the Venezuelan government has fully activated its national defense system to prevent any action that U.S. forces deployed in the Caribbean might take against the South American nation.

On Thursday, in a meeting with authorities from the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB), Maduro highlighted that 4.5 million people with proper military training make up the “powerful base” of the Bolivarian militia. That number will be matched by a similar number of people who have recently enlisted.

“To all Venezuelans, entire families who enlisted in communities across the country, tomorrow, Friday, Sept. 5, throughout the day, you will be called up,” the Bolivarian leader said.

“For the first time in the country’s military history, the Communal Militia Units (UCM) are active in 5,336 communities to participate in comprehensive defense,” President Maduro noted.

He also pointed out that militiamen will later be called to participate in “higher and superior levels” of training and recalled that the enlistment process carried out in August drew international attention.

“Venezuela astonished the world,” he said, reiterating that voluntary registration in the militias will be a permanent process through the Patria System, a state-run digital platform.

The Bolivarian leader also emphasized the country’s “absolute capacity” to “make peace triumph under any circumstance” and to “defend itself from so many threats and psychological wars.”

“We are confronting extremist Nazi currents from the North that seek to threaten the peace of South America and the Caribbean. They intend to continue attacking the rights of the peoples,” he said.

(Telesur)