Venezuelan Minister of Defense Vladimir Padrino López. Photo: Manaure Quintero/Reuters.
Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López confirmed the commitment of the Bolivarian National Armed Force (FANB) to protecting national sovereignty amid the latest maneuvers of the national and international far-right, including the threats of military intervention by former Colombian Presidents Álvaro Uribe and Iván Duque.
“We are prepared, my Commander-in-Chief Nicolás Maduro. We have a robust Bolivarian National Armed Force ready to defend Venezuela’s sovereignty,” Padrino López stated in a social media post on Thursday, January 16, one day before President Nicolás Maduro’s annual address to the nation.
“Make no mistake, because here we are determined to preserve peace,” Padrino López warned the far-right.
The post is accompanied by a video showing the moment President Maduro instructed the FANB, the intelligence agencies, and the police not to lower their guard in the face of threats against the nation.
“We take the criminal threats of the narco-paramilitary Álvaro Uribe and Iván Duque seriously, and we are ready. This land will never accept the insolent boots of paramilitaries, nor foreigners, nor imperialists,” said President Maduro in the message.
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/SC/SF
