Venezuelans are rushing to join the Bolivarian Militia after President Nicolas Maduro called for nationwide enlistment in response to US pressure. In Caracas, public workers, retirees, and housewives queued at plazas, barracks, and even Miraflores Palace to register, pledging to defend their homeland. The mobilisation comes as President Donald Trump deploys US warships and thousands of marines to the Caribbean, a move Washington says targets drug cartels but which Caracas condemns as an illegal attempt at regime change. With chants of “long live the homeland,” Venezuelans signed up in droves, while tensions between Maduro and Trump continue to intensify.
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00:00And finally, we end in South America, where hundreds of Venezuelans are answering President Nicolas Maduro's call to join the militia.
00:07In Caracas, teachers, retirees, and public works queued up in the city squares with military barracks pledging to defend their homeland against what the Venezuelan leader calls U.S. aggression.
00:19The mobilization comes as American warships and thousands of Marines move through the Caribbean, part of what Washington is describing as an anti-drug mission.
00:28But Caracas insists the build-up is an illegal push for regime change.
00:33With chants of long-lived homeland, recruits have signed up in droves as tensions in the region continue to escalate.
00:41Here's the story with more.
00:45Caracas spoke to long queues this weekend, not for food or fuel, but for militia.
00:51At Plaza Bolivar, clerks, teachers, and retirees signed up, raising fists and chanting, long live the homeland.
01:03This call had come from President Nicolas Maduro himself.
01:07Join the Bolivarian national militia and defend Venezuela against a looming U.S. threat.
01:12We are responding to the call made by the Constitutional President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro,
01:23as we enroll in the Bolivarian militia to prevent any empire from setting foot on this homeland of liberators again.
01:32Recruitment centers opened everywhere.
01:35Military barracks, city squares, even Mira Flores Palace took in volunteers.
01:40Some were first-timers, but others had fought before.
01:47Well, we are signing up.
01:48At least here are those of us who are reservists, and those who are not are stepping forward.
01:53If there's a problem in the country, we must do what we did when we were 18, serve the homeland.
02:02The enlistment drive was more than a ritual.
02:05Volunteers watched films of past blockades and learned to handle weapons.
02:09Venezuela is responsible for bringing down empires, and this is the last empire that will fall, the United States.
02:19Mark my words, it's Venezuela's role to do it.
02:22In fact, we've already started, we're in the process.
02:25What's left of it is just the illusion of an empire.
02:28Maduro insists the militia already has 4.5 million members.
02:35However, independent analysts put the figure close to 343,000.
02:40Whatever the truth, the president is betting on numbers, not precision.
02:44He calls the mobilization part of a national plan for sovereignty and peace.
02:49Though the timing leaves little doubt, it comes as U.S. warships cut through Caribbean waters.
02:55In fact, last week, two sources revealed the deployment of an amphibious squadron near the Gulf of Venezuela.
03:03USS San Antonio, USS Iwo Jima and USS Fort Lauderdale.
03:08Together, they carry 4,500 sailors and marines, with a broader force of 22,000 nearby.
03:16The Pentagon frames it as a mission against drug cartels.
03:18The Trump administration calls Maduro a narco-terrorist, and a $50 million bounty now hangs over his head.
03:26Today, the Department of Justice and State Department are announcing a historic $50 million reward
03:33for information leading to the arrest of Nicolas Maduro.
03:37Under President Trump's leadership, Maduro will not escape justice,
03:41and he will be held accountable for his despicable crimes.
03:45Caracas, however, rejects the charges.
03:47Maduro labels the naval presence immoral, criminal, and illegal.
03:53He claims Washington is after a regime change, not cocaine roots.
04:00We denounce to the world that the U.S. military deployment in the Caribbean waters,
04:05disguised as anti-drug operations, represents a threat to the peace and stability of the region,
04:11and constitutes a flagrant violation of international law and the United Nations Charter,
04:16which enshrines respect for sovereignty, the equality of states, and the self-determination of peoples.
04:25But not all are convinced.
04:28Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado urged citizens to stay away from the militia,
04:33noting that very few high-ranking officers still back Maduro.
04:37But the lines at the registration centers told another story.
04:41Civil servants and pensioners signed up in droves.
04:44I am just another soldier like you, and I am willing to give my last breath,
04:51to give my life defending this homeland, and I will do so alongside you, my dear brothers and comrades.
04:56The tension has rippled across the region.
05:02Trinidad and Tobago threw with support behind Washington,
05:06even pledging U.S. access to its territory if Venezuela attacked Guyana.
05:11That dispute over the oil-rich Esequibo region remains a powder keg.
05:15I want to make it very clear that if the Maduro regime launches any attack against the Guyanese people
05:21or invades Guyanese territory,
05:23and a request is made by the American government for access to Trinidadian territory to defend the people of Guyana,
05:29my government will unflinchingly provide them that access.
05:33But the standoff is not frozen.
05:36It is shifting.
05:37Warships inch closer,
05:39militiamen sharpen drills,
05:42allies choose sides.
05:43And the next chapter in Venezuela's standoff with the United States is already being written.
05:50Only no one yet knows whether it will be with ink or with fire.
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