Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino LĂłpez at the launch of the Independence 200 military drills. Photo: Correo del Orinoco.
Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino LĂłpez declared that any attempt by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to destabilize Venezuela will fail.
“No attempt to destabilize the Venezuelan nation will succeed here. They can send as many CIA operatives as they want on covert operations to any flank of the country, and every attempt will fail, just as it has so far,” Padrino LĂłpez said during the launch of the Coast Independence 200 military drills on Thursday, October 23.
He added that the threat of the CIA is always present in every country where there is a US embassy, making it a risk not only to Venezuela but also to all countries around the world.
“We do not have to make an account of all the conquests and victories of the Bolivarian Revolution to preserve peace in this country, to keep it standing with dignity,” he said. “The people already know it, and we know that the CIA is present not only in Venezuela but everywhere in the world. Wherever there is a US embassy, the CIA will be operating there.”
Defending the homeland is everyone’s task
The minister emphasized that the task of defending the nation is a task jointly carried out by the organized people and the members of the Bolivarian National Armed Force (FANB).
“Defending the nation is not exclusive to the FANB; defending the homeland is the responsibility of the entire people, the entire nation, the entire State, all its institutions, all of its public and private potential, and the collective effort of everyone,” he declared.
He further added that “the deployment that we are carrying out is to counter the military threat in the Caribbean—a blatant military threat against the region—as well as to protect the country internally from any act of destabilization.”
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National Guard deployed throughout Venezuela
Minister Padrino LĂłpez also highlighted the work carried out by the Bolivarian National Guard (GNB) throughout the country to protect the people and the homeland.
“The Bolivarian National Guard (GNB) is like the blood of the nation’s living body and is everywhere, protecting the people, monitoring, and carrying out its constitutional functions with great patriotic spirit,” he noted.
“The GNB is always ready, with honor, prestige and institutional integrity, and its love for the homeland,” he said.
Safeguarding public order
The general commander of the Bolivarian National Guard, Major General Elio Estrada Paredes, highlighted GNB’s role plays in safeguarding public order “in order to maintain, control, and restore the internal order of our homeland.”
Likewise, he said that the organized people, in collaboration with the National Guard, work to defend peace.
“Every day, the people, public safety officials, and the FANB train alongside the entire GNB in matters of public order, including the immediate reaction groups,” he stated.
Similarly, Padrino LĂłpez said that each of the operations carried out by the FANB also tries to “reach the optimal point of the State, of the Venezuelan people in perfect popular, military, and police union—it is the strategy…to protect people’s lives and their rights.”
On Thursday, at 4:00 a.m., the Coastal Independence 200 deployment began from various points across the country as part of Venezuela’s plan to defend its sovereignty and peace.
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/SC/DZ
