LIVE: Venezuela Invasion Soon? Trump Makes Shocking Announcement | Maduro News LIVE | N18G
#US #venezuela #trump 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.
00:00Since the last few weeks, the Pentagon has moved U.S. naval assets, including warships, into the Southern Caribbean Sea.
00:07In response, Maduro announced last week that he was deploying more than four and a half million militiamen around this country.
00:16He vowed to defend our seas, our skies and our lands from any incursion.
00:21He also urged Venezuelans to actively enroll and join the military.
00:26Last week, the White House press secretary, Carolyn Leavitt, was asked about the American ship movements into the Caribbean Sea
00:32and whether President Trump was considering putting forces on the ground in Venezuela.
00:38This is what she had to say.
00:39President Trump has been very clear and consistent.
00:42He's prepared to use every element of American power to stop drugs from flooding into our country
00:47and to bring those responsible to justice.
00:50The Maduro regime is not the legitimate government of Venezuela.
00:53It is a narco-terror cartel.
00:56In Maduro, it is the view of this administration, is not a legitimate president.
01:00He is a fugitive head of this cartel who has been indicted in the United States for trafficking drugs into the country.
01:07U.S. officials say that up to three guided missile destroyers would soon be arriving in the region.
01:13The naval warships will be targeting boats operated by drug cartels, transporting fentanyl to the United States.
01:19Also headed to the region are the two Iwo Jima amphibious ready groups, which includes the USS San Antonio, the USS Iwo Jima, and the USS Fort Lauderdale.
01:30In all, they carry about 4,500 sailors and about 2,200 marines.
01:35They are expected to head out to sea soon and are likely to arrive off the coast of Venezuela in the next several days.
01:47Several P-8 surveillance aircraft and also submarines are deployed to the region.
01:52The destroyers that are headed towards the zone outside Venezuelan territorial waters are the USS Jason Dunham and the USS Gravely, both warships, which recently featured in the campaign against the Houthis in the Red Sea.
02:07These destroyers are equipped with more than 100 missiles, including surface-to-air missiles.
02:14They can conduct anti-aircraft and anti-submarine warfare and even shoot down ballistic missiles.
02:20Deploying these destroyers against these drug cartels would be like bringing a howitzer gun into a knife fight.
02:27The U.S. Navy has long intercepted and boarded ships that are suspected of smuggling drugs in international waters.
02:37Typically, those operations are headed by a Coast Guard officer with the Navy playing second fiddle.
02:41But the scale of the forces that the Pentagon is now moving into place, coupled with Trump's order, suggests that the administration is contemplating going significantly beyond law enforcement.
02:52In fact, recent developments also invite comparisons to the provocative conditions that preceded two important American military episodes in the second half of the 20th century.
03:03The first was in the Gulf of Tonkin, where aggressive U.S. naval activity off the coast of North Vietnam led to a confrontation that eventually dragged America to get directly involved in the Vietnam War.
03:14That war went on for over a decade, and eventually, America had to retreat.
03:18It had to withdraw unsuccessfully after the fall of Saigon.
03:22In the second incident, which was in December of 1989, then-President George H.W. Bush sent more than 20,000 American troops to invade Panama and arrested strongman leader Manuel Noriega.
03:36Noriega was convicted of drug charges and spent a considerable amount of time in jail.
03:41As per U.S. law, the administration should technically go to the U.S. Congress for authorization if it wants to use military force against any foreign country, in this case, Venezuela.
03:52While there are plenty of examples of previous presidents not asking for authorization from Congress, the most notable one was George W. Bush before invading Iraq in 2003.
04:02But here's the nub of the problem.
04:05The Trump administration has contradictory goals with Venezuela.
04:10On the one hand, is its desire to use military force against drug cartels and to get Nicolas Maduro out of power.
04:17But that's in direct contradiction to its desire to persuade Maduro to cooperate in taking back more and more deported Venezuelan immigrants.
04:25Earlier this month, the administration announced that the government was doubling a reward to...
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