The Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, and the main heads of chavism took to the streets of the country this Saturday amid the escalation of tensions with the USA. Diosdado Cabello, also secretary general of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), later traveled to the state of Bolívar (south, bordering Brazil), where he described the day as 'extraordinary', during which, he assured, more than 4.5 million people mobilized. Simultaneously, the president of the National Assembly (AN, Parliament) and chief negotiator for Maduro, Jorge Rodríguez, was in the coastal state of Falcón (northwest), where the northernmost point of the nation is located, while the Minister of Education, Héctor Rodríguez, accompanied the activity in the oil region of Zulia (west, bordering Colombia). In response to the announcement by Washington of the 'Southern Spear' operation to supposedly combat drug trafficking originating in Latin America, three months after the beginning of the American military deployment in the Caribbean, Maduro, together with his wife, deputy Cilia Flores, led an oath-taking ceremony in Caracas for new groups of chavist militancy, which was replicated in different cities of the country, to which figures of the ruling party attended, such as the executive vice president and head of Hydrocarbons, Delcy Rodríguez, who led the activity in the state of Carabobo (north). The Minister of the Interior, Diosdado Cabello, began the day in La Guaira, a state facing the Caribbean, neighboring Caracas, from where he moved to the Aragua region (north), where he participated in a march surrounded by dozens of supporters. From Caracas, Maduro, after briefly singing John Lennon's 'Imagine' and accusing his counterpart Donald Trump's government of wanting to 'bomb and invade' Venezuela, asked the hundreds of his followers who were in the place to put their 'hand on the heart' and commit to the defense of the homeland. The head of state described this November 15 as a 'historic day' because, in his opinion, it was demonstrated that the people 'are awake, willing and prepared to defend' the country 'from any threat and any criminal aggression.' Maduro indicated that 235,000 Integral Bolivarian Base Committees (CBBI) have been constituted throughout the national territory, out of a total of 260,000 initially announced by the president. According to the ruling party, the CBBI are teams in 'every street in the country' made up of at least nine militants, who must, among other actions, draw up a 'permanent agenda of preparation for defense.' In this sense, the ruler assured that these groups have the 'great task of preparing for the integral defense of their street,' in addition to contributing to the 'construction of a free, independent and sovereign Venezuela.' He also asked them to 'support the consolidation of all communal councils' and guarantee the 'success' of the consultation on community projects scheduled for next November 23, which is also his birthday. The 'threat' Venezuela has already been in permanent mobilization for three months, mainly military, in response to what it denounces as a 'threat' from the USA, in reference to the naval and air deployment that Washington has maintained since August near the South American nation. The PSUV alerted this Saturday of an 'enormous psychological warfare operation' in the military operation announced on Thursday by the Pentagon, baptized 'Southern Spear', with which, according to the chavist party, Washington seeks to 'unleash violent actions and sow a conflict' in the Caribbean. Maduro, for his part, reiterated his call to the American people to 'stop the minds and hands gone mad that want' to lead the North American nation 'to a criminal war in South America and throughout the Caribbean.' In parallel, the opposition leader María Corina Machado asked this same Saturday to Venezuelan officials to 'lower the weapons' and accompany 'the freedom' of the country 'when the precise moment arrives.' In an audio shared on social networks, the Nobel Peace Prize winner expressed that 'the roar of this land that demands freedom grows and resonates inside and outside' the nation.
