Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro giving a speech to army soldiers at a training camp in Caracas. Photo: Zurimar Campos/Venezuelan Presidency.
Caracas (OrinocoTribune.com)—Amid explosions in the vicinity of Caracas, the governing United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) has released a statement confirming that the US has launched missile strikes against Venezuela.
The attacks appear to be concentrated on military targets. The Fort Tiuna military base in Caracas and the port of La Guaira, outside of Caracas, are among the targets that have been hit. The PSUV statement indicates that the Venezuelan states of Miranda, La Guaira, and Aragua were targeted by the US.
The United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a statement prohibiting US aircraft from operating within Venezuelan airspace as of 1 a.m. on January 3. Shortly thereafter, the military campaign began. Reports indicate that the attack lasted for approximately 50 minutes. Videos shared on social media also showed military helicopters firing at ground targets.
Via a statement shared on government outlets, the PSUV confirms that the strikes were carried out by the US military against sovereign Venezuelan territory. The PSUV notes that the strikes constitute a violation of international law and that the Venezuelan government will not bow to these criminal efforts at carrying out “regime”-change.
Below is an unofficial translation of the PSUV statement:
The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela rejects, repudiates and denounces before the international community the extremely serious military aggression perpetrated by the current Government of the United States of America against Venezuelan territory and population in the civilian and military localities of the city of Caracas, capital of the Republic, and the states of Miranda, Aragua, and La Guaira. This act constitutes a flagrant violation of the Charter of the United Nations, especially Articles 1 and 2, which enshrine respect for sovereignty, the legal equality of States and the prohibition of the use of force. Such aggression threatens international peace and stability, specifically in Latin America and the Caribbean, and puts the lives of millions of people at serious risk.
The objective of this attack is none other than to seize Venezuela’s strategic resources, particularly its oil and minerals, in an attempt to forcibly break the nation’s political independence. They will not succeed. After more than two hundred years of independence, the people and their legitimate government remain steadfast in defending their sovereignty and their inalienable right to decide their own destiny. The attempt to impose a colonial war to destroy the republican form of government and force a ‘regime change’, in alliance with the fascist oligarchy, will fail like all previous attempts.
Since 1811, Venezuela has confronted and defeated empires. When foreign powers bombarded our coasts in 1902, President Cipriano Castro proclaimed: ‘The insolent foot of the foreigner has profaned the sacred soil of the Fatherland.’ Today, with the spirit of Bolívar, Miranda and our liberators, the Venezuelan people rise again to defend their independence in the face of imperial aggression.
People to the streets!
The Bolivarian Government calls on all social and political forces in the country to activate mobilization plans and repudiate this imperialist attack. The people of Venezuela and their Bolivarian National Armed Forces, in perfect popular-military-police fusion, are deployed to guarantee sovereignty and peace. Simultaneously, Bolivarian Peace Diplomacy will file the corresponding complaints with the UN Security Council, the Secretary-General of that organisation, CELAC, and NAM demanding the condemnation and accountability of the US government.
President Nicolás Maduro has ordered that all national defence plans be implemented at the appropriate time and under the appropriate circumstances, in strict accordance with the provisions of the Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, the Organic Law on States of Emergency, and the Organic Law on National Security.
In this regard, President Nicolás Maduro has signed and ordered the implementation of the Decree declaring a state of external commotion throughout the national territory in order to protect the rights of the population, the full functioning of republican institutions, and to immediately move to armed struggle. The entire country must mobilize to defeat this imperialist aggression.
Similarly, he has ordered the immediate deployment of the Command for the Comprehensive Defence of the Nation and the Comprehensive Defence Management Bodies in all states and municipalities of the country.
In strict accordance with Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, Venezuela reserves the right to exercise legitimate defence to protect its people, its territory, and its independence. We call on the peoples and governments of Latin America, the Caribbean, and the world to mobilize in active solidarity against this imperial aggression.
As Supreme Commander Hugo Chávez Frías pointed out, “in the face of any new difficulties, whatever their magnitude, the response of all patriots… is unity, struggle, battle and victory.”
-Caracas, January 3, 2025
Special for Orinoco Tribune by staff
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