The Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro starred this Thursday in an unprecedented episode during a live broadcast on state television. In a speech filled with confusing messages, the Chavista leader attempted to address President Donald Trump in English, saying: "Not crazy war, yes peace" ("No guerra loca, sí paz").
Amid laughter and broken phrases, Maduro acknowledged his own linguistic clumsiness by describing his English as a "Tarzanian language", comparing himself to the famous jungle character. Despite the awkwardness of the message, he insisted on his call for calm: "No to the war of the madmen, no to the madness of war."
The statements come at a time of maximum military tension in the Caribbean, where the United States has intensified its operations against drug trafficking, targeting vessels linked to the Venezuelan regime.
Tension rises after U.S. attacks
The recent bombings in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific left at least 37 dead and opened a new phase in Washington's pressure policy. President Donald Trump reiterated his willingness to authorize ground attacks on Venezuelan territory as part of his military campaign against drug trafficking, although he did not specify dates or targets.
Maduro replied defiantly, accusing the United States of violating Venezuelan sovereignty and denying any link to drug trafficking. "If one day they dare, the working class will declare a general, insurrectional, and revolutionary strike," he warned, in what he described as a "direct order" to his followers.
Maduro threatens with an "insurrectional" general strike
In his speech, the Chavista leader urged his base to prepare for total mobilization in the event of a foreign military incursion. "The order has been given," he proclaimed on national television, assuring that the armed forces and the Bolivarian Militias would be activated "within hours" to defend the regime.
