Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro declared on Friday that his nation is prepared to enter a new stage of armed resistance if subjected to foreign aggression, while reaffirming Venezuela’s commitment to dialogue based on mutual respect.

Speaking in a televised address, Maduro rejected the latest hostile rhetoric from former U.S. President Donald Trump and denounced Washington’s repeated attempts at regime change in Caracas. He described U.S. interventionist plots as “a mistake” that threaten regional peace.

“No disagreement between Venezuela and the United States should ever justify military conflict,” Maduro stressed, urging Washington to abandon its reckless policies of intervention and destabilization.

The Venezuelan leader firmly rejected Trump’s baseless claim that Venezuela is run by a “drug cartel,” emphasizing that the country has no cultivation or production of cocaine. Maduro compared the accusation to the false pretexts of “weapons of mass destruction” used to justify the illegal U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Maduro’s warning came just hours after Trump threatened to shoot down Venezuelan military aircraft, further escalating tensions. According to U.S. media, Washington is considering military strikes on Venezuelan territory under the guise of combating drug trafficking — a pretext Caracas says is part of a broader campaign of imperial aggression.

The U.S. has already deployed Navy warships, thousands of Marines, and F-35 stealth fighters to Puerto Rico as part of a growing military buildup in the Caribbean and Latin America, raising alarms across the region.

In response to the provocative U.S. deployment, two Venezuelan Air Force F-16 fighter jets carried out a low-altitude flyover near the USS Jason Dunham, a U.S. guided-missile destroyer operating in the Caribbean. The maneuver underscored Venezuela’s determination to defend its sovereignty and warn against foreign intimidation.

While the Pentagon condemned the action as “provocative,” Venezuelan officials defended it as a legitimate act of vigilance in the face of threatening U.S. military operations just off Venezuelan waters. It was the second such incident in recent weeks, reflecting mounting tensions between Caracas and Washington.

For Maduro, the message remains clear: Venezuela is a sovereign nation that will not bow to foreign dictates or manufactured accusations. “We are a people of peace, but we will defend our dignity with arms if necessary,” he declared.

As Washington intensifies pressure on Caracas through sanctions, disinformation, and military posturing, Venezuela insists on dialogue — but only under conditions of respect and equality, not domination. (ILKHA)