Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro during a press conference with foreign correspondents at Miraflores Palace, Caracas, on Monday, September 1, 2025. Photo: Presidential Press.
“Venezuela is facing the greatest threat our continent has seen in the last 100 years,” President Nicolás Maduro emphasized Monday at a press conference with international media. “Eight military ships with 1,200 missiles and a nuclear submarine are targeting Venezuela. It is an extravagant, unjustifiable, immoral, absolutely criminal, and bloody threat. They have sought to advance toward what they call ‘maximum pressure,’ in this case, military pressure. We have declared ‘maximum preparedness’ for the defense of Venezuela, always in compliance with the constitution,” he added.
The president noted that Venezuela “is a pacifist country, but we are descendants of warriors. Venezuela will never give in to blackmail or threats of any kind. This is our historical path.”
He said a complete mess has been created against Venezuela. “Having defeated all forms of hybrid warfare, they have opted for the worst mistake: extravagant, immoral, and brutal ‘maximum pressure,’ comparable only to the October 1962 crisis against Cuba.”
Maduro blamed US Secretary of State Marco Rubio for having “‘Mayamized,’ in the worst sense of political extremism, the White House and the State Department, and imposed the worst version of what they call ‘maximum pressure’ on a country. We have responded by calling for national unity and preparing to preserve national sovereignty, peace, and territorial integrity every day, month, and for as long as the US empire intends to apply these illegal and immoral methods that violate the United Nations Charter.”
President Maduro demanded respect for Venezuela and condemned the so-called “gunboat diplomacy.” When asked by a journalist about Venezuela’s communication channels with the United States government, Maduro noted that Venezuela has John McNamara and Richard Grenell, but that these channels “are battered” by the policy of maximum pressure and “gunboat diplomacy” that the Trump administration is implementing “erratically and misguidedly.”
He pointed out that Trump must be wary of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, whom he said “wants to drag him into a bloodbath” by provoking a terrible war that would no longer be just against Venezuela, but also against all of South America and the Caribbean because “this would be a full-blown war across the entire continent.” He said such a war would leave Trump’s hands “stained with blood.”
The Venezuelan president emphasized that, through dialogue, words, and respect, everything is possible, but that a policy of maximum pressure will only achieve “maximum preparation and maximum rebellion, because we are the world champions of anti-imperialist rebellion.”
8.2 million enlisted militiamen and reservists
President Maduro reported that, after two weekends of recruitment operations, “there are 8,200,000 enlisted military personnel and reservists” registered. The recruitment process will remain open, as many more people wish to enlist. Further announcements will be made in the coming days.
He also announced a massive training program and the creation of militia combat units in each commune, which will encompass a structure called the “popular base for comprehensive defense.”
Unfounded accusations
Regarding the drug trafficking accusations against Venezuela and its government, President Maduro emphasized that 401 drug trafficking planes have been disabled by the Bolivarian National Armed Force (FANB), and that all agencies around the world, including those in the United States, recognize Venezuela’s success in the fight against drugs. “Marco Rubio has led them into a dead end,” he said.
Two forms of struggle
In response to a journalist’s question, President Maduro stated that “in any circumstance, we will guarantee the functioning of the country, whether it affects us or not.”
He added that there is a strategic defense plan for the country, “which has been designed, adapted, and updated over the last 20 years,” and is eminently defensive. “This concept includes two forms of struggle: unarmed struggle, which involves organizing, producing, preparing, training, conducting diplomatic and political struggles, and recruiting.”
“However, it also includes an armed struggle scenario. If Venezuela were attacked, it would immediately enter a period of armed struggle in defense of the national territory, the history, and the people of Venezuela. We would constitutionally declare a republic in arms. Armed struggle and a republic in arms, from north to south, from east to west, to guarantee peace, sovereignty, and the development of the country under any circumstances!” the president said.
“There would become a new Boyacá battle, new Junín, new Ayacucho. Great history would arrive, once again.”
He emphasized: “Here, the choice is not between homeland or death. The choice is between independence or colony. It is between being free or slaves. We are going to be independent and free! Colony and slave? Never!” He stated that, in an attack against Venezuela, “the impact it will have on global society and all of the American continent is lost sight of,” assuring that Venezuela will receive support even from the US people themselves.
Latin America and the Caribbean in the Face of US Desperation
President Petro
President Maduro referenced a message from Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who on Monday convened an emergency Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) meeting to address the US military threats against Venezuela. He referred to Petro’s message explaining that “if there is a violent attack against Venezuela, what we see in Syria and Iraq will become a reality throughout the region—mass murderers will seize territories, driven by greed, and states will be weakened as instruments of social peace.”
The message continues, “That is why, in the great homeland of Bolívar, there can be nothing but national sovereignty. Not in Panama, nor in Ecuador, nor in Colombia, nor in Venezuela, can there be servile foreign subjection. The region must coordinate its anti-narcotics policy with foreigners on equal terms, as this is a problem for humanity, but on terms of equality, not submission.”
After reading the message, President Maduro referred to his Colombian counterpart as “a very intelligent man” with whom he had spoken “personally” on numerous occasions. “I am impressed by your intelligence and your preparation,” the president added.
(Alba Ciudad) by Luigino Bracci Roa with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/SF
