Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro surrounded by supporters during a mass demonstration in Caracas on Wednesday, December 10, 2025. Photo: Venezuelan Presidential Press.
Caracas (OrinocoTribune.com)—Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro took lead of a massive Chavista mobilization in downtown Caracas to commemorate the 166th anniversary of the Battle of Santa Inés. During the event, which honors the most outstanding military action during the Federal War under General Ezequiel Zamora, to call for full preparedness amid imminent US attacks, and to urge for regional unity.
“Sooner rather than later, we have to refound Gran Colombia,” President Maduro declared during the march this Wednesday, December 10, appealing to SimĂłn BolĂvar’s historical vision of regional unity. Zamora, along with SimĂłn RodrĂguez and SimĂłn BolĂvar, represents the core values of the Bolivarian Revolution initiated by Commander Hugo Chávez in 1999.
“Under these clouds, under this rain, we tell the world, Venezuela remains victorious,” said the head of state, addressing thousands of supporters. “Santa InĂ©s lives on today in our struggles and in these victories.” He reiterated that the battle’s symbolism of popular struggle remains relevant to the revolution.
The president noted that the Battle of Santa InĂ©s, fought in 1859, was a “memorable, admirable day” where a “people’s army of peasants, fishermen, humble men and women, mulattos, mestizos, blacks, and browns,” inflicted “the most resounding defeat to the oligarchy that had betrayed BolĂvar.” He explained that once again, it would be the hands of Venezuelan producers, farmers, and workers to take up arms to defend the homeland against “the elite and the reactionary, supremacist oligarchy.”
Oil tanker seized
Also on Wednesday, US President Donald Trump announced the seizure of an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela. This occurs amid an ongoing siege and escalating threats by the US government, including recent cyberwarfare and attempts to disrupt commercial flight operations.
“We just seized an oil tanker off the Venezuelan coast. A big, very big oil tanker,” Trump said during a White House ceremony. “The biggest one ever seen. And there are other things happening that you’ll see later,” he added, without providing further details.
Minutes earlier, Bloomberg had reported that US imperial forces “intercepted and seized a sanctioned oil tanker” in the Caribbean Sea. No information has been provided about the coordinates, the specific vessel seized, or the legal pretext for the action that has already been labeled by numerous analysts as an act of piracy.
Venezuelan authorities have not yet commented on the seizure. However, analysts claim that seizing a Venezuelan-flagged ship could represent an act of war and might signal a new level of military threat, potentially an overture to long-announced US strikes on Venezuelan soil.
Machado’s Peace Prize
During the demonstration, President Maduro condemned MarĂa Corina Machado’s calls for marches, declaring her as a “fascist and criminal” and demonstrating that the far-right had no noticeable turnout.
“The cowardly, criminal, murderous Machado called for large marches,” President Maduro said. “And large marches did take place… in the United States, on Saturday… against the war for oil. Not a single soul came out in Miami to support Machado,” he added, in a sarcastic tone.
He reiterated that powerful international public opinion rejects US military aggression, citing polls showing nearly 70% of internal US public opinion against war on Venezuela.
The president also thanked the people of Norway for “rejecting imperialist interference,” referencing a press conference and massive marches in Oslo where Norwegian figures spoke “against the US military aggression against Venezuela, against the Nazi-fascist MarĂa Corina Machado.”
“The people know very well who the Nazis and fascists are and they know very well who we Bolivarian and Revolutionary people are,” he added. The head of state emphasized that the far-right lacks the capacity to govern or guarantee peace, a role only Chavista forces can fulfill.
Vice President Delcy RodrĂguez also commented on the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo. “Look what happened in Norway. They attended a funeral service, a total failure. The show flopped,” she said, noting that the attendees to Machado’s Nobel Prize ceremony were the same ones supporting the Israeli settler colonial genocide against the Palestinian people.
Venezuelan authorities have reported for weeks that Machado left Venezuela under the pretext of attending the ceremony, a move confirmed by Bloomberg. Many analysts highlighted the politicized speech of Nobel committee chair, Jørgen Watne Frydnes, who asked President Maduro to accept the far-right’s imaginary June 2024 presidential election results and to “step down.”
While the Nobel Committee has portrayed Machado as a heroine “in hiding,” Venezuelan authorities report that they are aware of her whereabouts. Experts suggest that this is mirroring the strategy used by the Chavista government with former deputy Juan GuaidĂł, allowing him to become irrelevant to US regime change machinations.
Special for Orinoco Tribune by staff
OT/JRE/AU
