Venezuela conducted military exercises on Saturday in response to the deployment of U.S. warships off its coast, raising concerns in Caracas about a potential invasion.
The U.S. has sent ships to the Caribbean region under the pretext of combating drug trafficking, targeting at least three vessels in recent weeks that it claims were loaded with drugs from Venezuela, resulting in the deaths of 14 individuals.
Caracas condemned the American military presence, calling it a “military threat.”
The exercises on Saturday, carried out in the northwestern state of Falcon and the northeastern state of Sucre, coincided with government-mandated drills focused on disaster response.
Footage broadcast by the state-run “VTV” channel showed the Venezuelan National Bolivarian Armed Forces transporting military equipment near Cape San Roman, a coastal city situated about 27 kilometers south of Aruba.
The training included firing cannons into the sea, deploying amphibious vehicles from a vessel to the shore, and moving Russian-made Pechora surface-to-air missile trucks to the area.
Furthermore, the military led an operation to take control of the uninhabited Batus Island, located near the border with Trinidad and Tobago.
General Domingo Hernandez Larez reported that over 5,200 soldiers participated in drug crackdown exercises in Sucre.
Emergency drills were also conducted across the nation on the same Saturday, with the first exercise focused on earthquake response, which is crucial given the two tremors that struck the country earlier in the week, each exceeding a magnitude of 6.