Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, in front of his followers or at official events mentioning the United States, says: 'War, no', 'peace, peace, peace'. The United States has deployed an unprecedented military force in the Caribbean, which has heightened tensions between Caracas and Washington. The Chavista leader, it seems, is willing to ease the situation through diplomacy, dialogue, and his peculiar way of speaking English. 'From speaking so much English, my tongue gets confused,' Maduro joked at an event in Caracas on Wednesday, after referring to his wife, deputy Cilia Flores, as 'the first lady and the first combatant'. The Chavista, who apparently aims to reach Washington and the American public more directly, predicted in his speech a 'victory forever'. He also mocked his pronunciation, recounting that recently he mispronounced a word that sounded like Starlink, Elon Musk's satellite internet service. 'I campaigned for Elon Musk,' the ruler stated, who in August 2024 ordered the suspension of the social network X, owned by the South African magnate, in his country for ten days, but it has remained blocked for Venezuelan users since then. By way of apology, he attributed his lack of 'fluent English' to the fatigue he says he feels 'sometimes', but that he tries anyway because, he claims, in the US. Venezuela views the U.S. deployment as a 'threat' to its sovereignty and as part of a plan to foster a 'regime change' that would remove Chavism from power, which it has held since 1999, and impose a 'puppet' authority. In response to the deployment, which the White House defends as part of an operation against drugs coming from Latin America, Venezuela has stated that the U.S. has fluctuated between calls for peace and announcements of military exercises, the recruitment and training of civilians, and defense plans with 'heavy weaponry and missiles'. The head of state has also turned to English to respond to his U.S. counterpart, Donald Trump, after the latter said he is open to talking with his South American counterpart. 'Whoever wants to talk to Venezuela, will talk face to face, without any problem,' he snapped on his 'Con Maduro +' program, broadcast on the state channel VTV. The state leader also frequently repeats the phrase 'peace, peace, peace' to refer to the state he says his country is in despite what he calls 'threats and stalking', and he also uses it to make a call against 'a war'. 'No war' and 'yes peace', he insisted repeatedly at an event in October, and on November 14 he expressed his rejection of 'death' and advocated for a situation of 'peace, and life, and love'. The next day, at an event in the Petare slum, considered Venezuela's largest, he surprised everyone by briefly singing the iconic song 'Imagine' by British musician John Lennon. On a stage in front of hundreds of his supporters, the ruler called to 'do everything for peace, as John Lennon said' and dared to sing the phrase 'imagine all the people'.
