Caracas, Jan 23 (EFE) .- Venezuela made on Thursday military and police drills throughout the country in “defense of the Homeland” as part of the 2025 Bolivarian shield exercise against “threats” of invasion and eventual external attacks, according to several authorities of the Caribbean country to the Venezuelan state television channel (VTV).
VTV reported on various military deployments and civil society concentrations, to protect strategic facilities throughout the national territory, including airports, refineries, gas plants, electrical substations and drinking water pumping.
In addition, the state channel indicated that structured crime attacks were simulated and the entry of paramilitary groups to the country, especially at the border, after the calls of “international intervention” of the Colombian ex -presidents Iván Duque and Álvaro Uribe to take Nicolás Maduro out of power, invested as president on January 10 after a questioned re -election.
In Caracas, there were concentrations of social, military and police movements in 18 points, for the defense of infrastructure such as hospitals, the historic center of the city, among others, said Carmen Meléndez, head of the Mayor’s Office of Caracas.
“This is an exercise to know the abilities we have and also see any weakness,” said the official.
For his part, Nahum Fernández, head of government of the capital and vice president of mobilization of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), said that in Venezuela “there are subjects” who are “dedicated” to “generate violence”, so, he added, the country is prepared for “the defense of peace.”
“We are ordering to guarantee our own means for the defense of the territory, for the defense of sovereignty, for the defense of peace,” he said.
As reported by the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB), the military exercises, which began on Wednesday and conclude this Thursday, involve some 150,000 troops throughout its territory with a view to the defense of the “internal order” to make “improper” the Caribbean country.
The FANB Operational Strategic Commander, Domingo Hernández Lárez, indicated yesterday that 290 “strategic exercises” are carried out in Caracas and in each of the 23 regions of the country, where, in addition, the governors, together with the military leaders of those states, have their own “territorial priorities.”
Meanwhile, the head of the Ministry of Defense of Venezuela, Vladimir Padrino López, said there will be a “forceful response” for “those who ask for military intervention” from the Caribbean country or “beyond the border.” EFE
(photo) (video)
