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Venezuela's top general says civic-military alliance will resist US pressure

Iran Press TV

Sunday, 23 November 2025 11:06 AM

Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez says the civic-military alliance will resist the pressure exerted on the nation by the United States.

Speaking at a ceremony held in tribute to the nation's musicians on Saturday, Padrino Lopez reaffirmed Venezuela's strength and dignity in the face of imperialistic plots.

He pointed to the Venezuelan nation's resolve to defend the independence and territorial integrity of the leftist Latin American state.

He also condemned Washington's risky actions for creating a clear threat to regional stability, noting that the scale and configuration of US assets "has nothing to do with combating drug trafficking."

Instead, Padrino Lopez explained, the US military buildup in the region reflects an effort to coerce the Venezuelan state under the guise of fighting drugs.

Addressing the Americans, he said that the people of Venezuela will not give in to US pressure.

"Enough of lies and slander, of imposing power and hegemony by force," he asserted.

The General-in-Chief of the Bolivarian National Armed Force (FANB) vowed that the Venezuelan nation, backed by its civic-military alliance, will defend the state's sovereignty, remain united and loyal to Caracas against foreign intervention.

Padrino Lopez cited the civic-military alliance as one of the greatest achievements of the Bolivarian process and the strategic foundation for defending peace and sovereignty.

His remarks come amid a sharp increase in US military deployments across the Caribbean, carried out under the pretext of anti-drugs operations.

Since late August, Washington has sent warships, surveillance aircraft, and special operations units to the southern Caribbean, culminating this month with the deployment of the USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group.

The US has since launched dozens of strikes on vessels, killing more than 80 people, claiming they were drug traffickers, while failing to provide any evidence to back up the claims. Legal experts have condemned the US military's extrajudicial killing of victims as unlawful.