Venezuela.- Venezuela launched the “Independence 200” plan this Friday in four western states—Mérida, Trujillo, Lara, and Yaracuy—as part of its “integral defense” strategy in response to what President Nicolás Maduro describes as a U.S. threat in the Caribbean Sea. The plan involves coordinated mobilization of citizens, military personnel, and police to prepare for national defense and maintain peace and sovereignty.

Operation “Independence 200,” announced in September, has been gradually implemented across more than a dozen regions, including coastal areas, Nueva Esparta island, and border states such as Táchira and Amazonas. Maduro emphasized that the activation of Comprehensive Defense Operational Zones (ZODI) in these regions strengthens defense lines, economic stability, and overall security. He highlighted a “popular-military-police fusion” aimed at making Venezuelan territory “impregnable.”

The government reports that 6.2 million citizens are enrolled in the Bolivarian Militia as part of the national defense system, stressing that safeguarding the country is a collective responsibility, not solely that of authorities. While the U.S. justifies its Caribbean deployment as a counter-narcotics measure, the Maduro administration warns that it represents a threat of regime change and potential seizure of Venezuela’s natural resources, including oil.