Venezuela begins military drill amid US hostility

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Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez announced the start of a nationwide military drill on Saturday, aimed at keeping the country battle ready in case of a foreign invasion.

Speaking from Macarao National Park, in the western state of Miranda, Padrino said "from this observation post (and) accompanied by all of my fellow soldiers ... today we officially begin this drill."

Some 200,000 military troops and 900,000 "combatants" are participating in the two-day drill, according to the army.

Members of the national army show locals how to handle an anti-aircraft battery during military drill in Caracas on August 26, 2017. /AFP Photo

Padrino said that through the exercise, "we want to say to the world that there is an armed force in Venezuela and a people who are willing to give all of themselves to defend ... our country."

US President Donald Trump recently said he would not rule out a "military option" on Venezuela to oust President Nicolas Maduro from power.

Police and troops paraded through central Caracas with an anti-aircraft missile. "The people and the FANB are defending territory and sovereignty," Maduro wrote on Twitter.

Top US officials later played down the threat. "No military actions are anticipated in the near future," said US national security advisor HR McMaster.

But tension surged again when the White House on Friday unveiled its first-ever sanctions to target Venezuela as a whole, rather than just Maduro and his inner circle.

'Financial blockade'

The measures ban trade in new bonds issued by the Venezuelan government or its cash-cow oil company, PDVSA.

That could choke off access to New York debt markets and raise the risk of Venezuela being forced into default.

Trump's threat of military force meanwhile has bolstered Maduro's oft-repeated claim that Washington is plotting to topple him and wants to grab control of Venezuela's oil -- the largest proven reserves in the world.

Venezuela's Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino said the armed forces support "all measures being implemented to counter the financial blockade."

Civilians receive instruction on how to use rifles during military drill in Caracas on August 26, 2017. /AFP Photo

In an address at one of the exercises near Caracas, he told assembled troops the drill was "for the defense of the whole country" against "imperial aggression."

International pressure

Maduro's opponents accuse military police and pro-Maduro militia of beating and killing anti-government protesters who are demanding elections to replace him.

Protest clashes have left 125 people dead so far this year, according to prosecutors. Maduro says the violence and the economic crisis are a US-backed conspiracy.

On Friday, he accused opposition leaders in his country of pushing for the US sanctions and called for legislative speaker Julio Borges to be tried for treason.

Maduro's communications minister Ernesto Villegas on Saturday called the new sanctions "a declaration of economic war that we cannot respond to in a conventional manner."

Maduro on Friday called an "urgent" meeting of American companies that buy Venezuelan oil and hold Venezuelan bonds to discuss the sanctions.

Source(s): AFP ,Xinhua News Agency