Skip to main content
Donate to the 95 years appeal
Venezuelan youth mobilises as US cranks up hostilities

US baseless accusations of drug trafficking and the outrageous putting of a bounty on a president of a sovereign country do not bode well, reports PABLO MERIGUET

READY TO REPEL ATTACK: People rally in the Catia neighborhood of Caracas, Venezuela, in support of the enlistment campaign called by the government of President Nicolas Maduro, August 29 2025

THE youth wing of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) carried out “Basic Revolutionary Resistance Training” over the past week in the Venezuelan state La Guaira. On the evening of August 28, the youth participated in a 10-kilometre night march led by PSUV secretary-general Diosdado Cabello.

The training took place amid rising tensions between Washington and Caracas. The situation flared up when the administration of US President Donald Trump reiterated accusations that the Venezuelan government plays a major role in drug trafficking, increasing the bounty on the head of President Nicolas Maduro, and at the same time deploying troops to the Caribbean to support the US “war on drugs.”

“The socialist youth, with its morale and rebelliousness, is ready for the defence of the Homeland and the construction of the future,” said Cabello who is Minister of Interior, Justice and Peace of the Bolivarian Republic.

The Chavista leader expressed that these trainings seek to build a combative youth in view of recent events that increased pressures on the South American country: “Chavez dreamed it and we are making it a reality, a combatant corps of the youth of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela.”

The activities are taking place after Venezuelan President Maduro called on all branches of the armed forces, including the militia, and the PSUV to be on high alert and prepared for a potential US attack.

Meanwhile, the military enlistment days organised by Chavismo continue to advance throughout Venezuela. According to Venezuelan authorities, “thousands of people have responded to the government’s call to join the ranks of the national defence.”

Vice-President Delcy Rodríguez said in this regard: ‘’The workers are highly conscious of what it means to defend our homeland; today we heed the call of President Nicolas Maduro to defend our nation... We are ready to defend the social happiness of our people, to defend the future, to defend Venezuela’s right to exploit and develop its productive capacities.”

On August 14, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the deployment of several military vessels in the southern Caribbean Sea after declaring that Maduro is the alleged leader of the so-called Cartel de los Soles/Cartel of the Suns.

This organisation has already been designated as a terrorist organisation by Washington, which many analysts have seen as a tactic to attack Venezuela and thus overthrow the Chavista government.

In addition, US allies in South America, Ecuador, Paraguay and Argentina, have also declared the Cartel de los Soles as an international terrorist organisation, which can be interpreted as a form of alignment behind Washington’s geopolitical pretensions.

However, other countries in the region such as Colombia and Mexico, led by progressive presidents Gustavo Petro and Claudia Sheinbaum respectively, have said that they will not support a military intervention on Latin American soil as they consider that it goes against the principle of non-intervention that characterises the foreign policy of several countries in the region.

Washington continues to reinforce its military positions in the Caribbean, specifically in Curacao and Guyana, countries that have granted permission to the US military to dock in their coasts.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has begun a tour of Latin America and the Caribbean to seek greater support for the Trump administration’s position on Venezuela and to rally more support for his regional strategy. Mexico and Ecuador will be part of Rubio’s tour.

This article first appeared in People’s Dispatch.

 

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
Presidential candidate Rodrigo Paz (centre) addresses supporters after early results showed him leading in the presidential election in La Paz, Bolivia, August 17, 2025
Features / 21 August 2025
21 August 2025

After almost two decades of rule by the Movement Toward Socialism, once led by Evo Morales, right-wing parties have emerged in the lead after the first round of elections on August 17 and are now in control of the legislature, reports PABLO MERIGUET 

LOUD AND CLEAR: Fidel Castro, prime minister of Cuba at the headquarters of the United Nations, New York, on October 12 1979 Pic: Bernard Gotfryd/Library of Congress/CC
History / 15 August 2025
15 August 2025

Castro became one of the first leaders to denounce Israeli genocide against Palestinians at the UN, comparing zionist persecution to Nazi crimes while Cuba trained PLO cadres and awarded Arafat state honours, writes PABLO MERIGUET

MEMORANDUM: Trump is seeking to expand the notorious base
Features / 3 February 2025
3 February 2025
The project has caused indignation in Cuba, which claims sovereignty over the base, occupied more than 100 years ago by the US military, writes PABLO MERIGUET
AN IDYLL THAT MAY NOT LAST: View of Puerto Ayora, Galapagos
Features / 21 December 2024
21 December 2024
The decision is part of a process that seeks the re-establishment of US military bases on Ecuadorian territory. Several voices have severely criticised the decision as a violation of Ecuador’s sovereignty, reports PABLO MERIGUET
Similar stories
President Donald Trump answers questions from reporters after signing an executive order about the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games, in the South Court Auditorium of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House campus, August 5, 2025,
Features / 7 August 2025
7 August 2025

FRANCISCO DOMINGUEZ says the US’s bullying conduct in what it considers its backyard is a bid to reassert imperial primacy over a rising China — but it faces huge resistance

Government supporters listen to Venezuelan President Nicolas
Features / 15 January 2025
15 January 2025
Peace and solidarity campaigner DAVID PEAT reports from the World International Anti-Fascist Festival held earlier this month with the support of the Maduro government in socialist Venezuela
FIRM REBUFF TO SEDITION: National Assembly President Jorge R
Features / 6 December 2024
6 December 2024
The new ‘Bolivar’ Act expands the brutal sanctions programme as the Trump team signals a return to aggressive regime change and foreign mercenaries plot insurrection and assassination, writes TIM YOUNG