VENEZUELA has declared a “massive mobilization” of its military forces in a fiery response to Donald Trump.
Nicolas Maduro is responding with a show of force after Washington moved its imposing warships and thousands of troops to the Caribbean Sea.
Venezuela claim they are standing up to the “imperialist threat” posed by the US as Trump continues to crackdown on foreign drug trafficking.
Caracas has announced their mobilization will involve air, naval and reserve forces all carrying out exercises up until Wednesday, according to Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López.
The Bolivarian Militia will also take part in the training exercises along with regular military units.
López said the directive has come directly from Venezuelan President Maduro.
He added that the objective of the exercise is to “optimize command, control and communications”.
Defending the country from a looming Washington threat is also the main priority.
Maduro has boasted of having 5,000 Russian-made Igla-S missiles deployed “to the last mountain, the last town, and the last city in the territory.”
But internal planning documents reveal Venezuela is being forced to deploy aging Russian weapons.
Maduro has even reached out to Vladimir Putin for extra support, say sources cited by Reuters.
Venezuela’s leader spoke on Tuesday as he signed into law a national defense framework approved by Venezuela’s National Assembly.
The decree ordered the immediate activation of “integral defense commands” to unify civilian and military forces, according to state television.
The Venezuelan posturing comes after the USS Gerald R. Ford, carrying more than 4,000 sailors and dozens of strike aircraft, entered the US Southern Command zone in Latin American waters this week.
The move is the largest US military deployment in the region since the 1989 invasion of Panama.
Pentagon officials confirmed the Gerald R. Ford strike group’s arrival, describing it as part of a campaign to “detect, monitor, and disrupt illicit actors and activities” across the Caribbean.
Chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said the carrier “will bolster US capacity to disrupt narcotics trafficking and degrade and dismantle transnational criminal organisations.”
The carrier’s arrival follows Trump’s vow to expand his “war on drugs,” which has already included deadly airstrikes on boats suspected of smuggling cocaine.
Washington accuses the Venezuelan regime, led by Maduro and his top aides, of flooding drugs inside the American territory.
Trump also warned dictator Maduro’s “days are numbered” as he vowed “the land is going to be next,” earlier this month.
In response, Maduro said Trump is trying to drive him out of power.
Washington remains adamant that is not yet planning strikes inside Venezuela despite the strong rhetoric and military build-up.
But former defence intelligence agent Phillip Ingram has now revealed to The Sun the ways in which Trump could pull off an invasion.
Ingram details how Washington could launch an all out attack and why it may begin with an eerie silence through the use of spies inside Venezuela.
He said: “This is not just a drug war. This could be the prelude to a full scale American invasion.
“Trump sees Venezuela as a forward operating base for America’s enemies. A Cuba on steroids.
“When the US decides that a South American leader has to go, they go.
“And now all signs point to Maduro being the next on the list.”
Ingram believes that the huge influx of US warships in the Caribbean is clearly a blockade being organised by Trump.
American military build-up
THE US military has sent the world’s biggest warship to join Trump’s drug-busting force in the Caribbean.
The latest move saw the state-of-the-art Gerald R Ford Carrier Strike Group join the American ring of steel currently stationed near Venezuelan waters.
Pentagon bosses said the carrier group is joining a southern command centre to “bolster US capacity to detect, monitor, and disrupt illicit actors and activities that compromise the safety and prosperity of the United States homeland.”
The Ford-carrier, commissioned in 2017, is capable of hauling up to 90 aircraft and holding more than 5,000 sailors, making it the largest in the world.
The deadly aircraft permanently assigned to the ship include the 18E Super Hornet, the 18G Growler, the 2D Advanced Hawkeye, and the 2A Greyhound, alongside Seahawks.
New satellite images show that one huge military vessel, the USS Iwo Jima, is now patrolling just 124 miles from Venezuela – in posturing that will deeply unsettle President Nicolas Maduro.
It holds more than 1,600 marines who have been practising live-fire drills, and it is capable of launching a rapid amphibious invasion.
Two other USS destroyers have been seen accompanying Iwo Jima, within around 12 miles of each other.
The current position of Iwo Jima means it could be at the Venezuelan shore within five hours, if the order were given.
Meanwhile, the USS Gravely completed a four-day stay in Trinidad and Tobago earlier this month.
Elsewhere, stealth F-35s, B-52 bombers, Reaper drones, eight warships and even a nuclear-powered submarine are lurking off Maduro’s coast.
Some 10,000 troops, military helicopters and intelligence assets from the CIA are also keeping a close eye on Venezuela.
He even compared it to a boa constrictor choking off Maduro’s regime and probing his defences, sending a clear message that they are waiting for him.
But if Trump is serious about starting a war with Venezuela then Ingram thinks he will start with a silent mode of attack.
“It’ll start with silence. US Cyber Command launches a massive attack crippling Venezuela’s power, its internet, its military command and control,” he says.
This will likely form the first part of a formidable two-pronged attack.
Trump will then also order his CIA assets embedded into Venezuela’s government and military as well as the US soldiers based around the country to launch killer capture raids of targets.
