The President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, ordered on Tuesday the creation of integral defense commands -which will group citizens, military and public officials- to “be prepared” in case of an “armed struggle”, in a context marked by the “threat” that, according to the President, represents the US military deployment in the Caribbean Sea waters near his country.
The head of state gave the order when signing the ‘Law of the Command for the Integral Defense of the Nation’, approved this same Tuesday by the National Assembly (NA, Parliament), controlled by Chavism, which establishes the objectives, characteristics and functions of these bodies.
Maduro creates defense commandos
#ENVIDEO📹| The president of #Venezuela 🇻🇪, Nicolás Maduro, signed the Law of the Command for the Integral Defense of the Nation. This legal instrument comes in a context of external pressure from #US and its military deployment in the Caribbean, threatening regional peace pic.twitter.com/tO7FL9QWIg
– teleSUR TV (@teleSURtv) November 12, 2025
“The order must be activated so that the integral defense commands are instituted, structured and start working in order to be prepared, if it is our turn as a republic, as a people, to go to the armed struggle to defend this sacred heritage of the liberators, to be ready to win, to triumph, through the path of patriotism and bravery”, expressed the Venezuelan president.
In a ceremony at the Miraflores Palace -headquarters of the Executive, in Caracas-, broadcast by the state channel Venezolana de Televisión (VTV), the Chavista leader pointed out that, in these last “fourteen weeks of imperial criminal madness” and of “permanent psychological warfare”, the South American country has “taken steps” in the military and institutional spheres.
In view of “these threats”, according to Maduro, the capacity of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB) has been strengthened for “any scenario” and “the whole country has been prepared, in perfect popular-military-police fusion”, with the objective, he said, of “being ready, ready and prepared” to “move from the unarmed struggle to the liberating and victorious armed struggle”.
In this process, he pointed out that “more than eight” million Venezuelans were enlisted in the Militia and there have been training sessions for citizens on “military techniques” and deployment of the FANB “state by state”.
The new law, as read in its discussion process, indicates that an integral defense command “is a unit attached” to the Strategic Operational Command of the Armed Forces (Ceofanb) whose “mission is to integrate, plan, articulate, coordinate, direct, supervise and exercise control” of the so-called Organs of Direction for Integral Defense (ODDI).
Its activities include “supporting military operations”, as well as “ensuring the continuity of productive activities and the functioning of essential public services and critical infrastructure, once mobilization has been decreed”.
The Venezuelan government announced on Tuesday a new military deployment that includes “land, air, naval and river means”, in addition to weapons systems and others to confront what it considers “imperial threats”.
Since August, the US has maintained a military deployment in the Caribbean under the argument of combating drug trafficking, but Caracas insists that it is a “threat” to bring about a “regime change”.
According to the U.S. Navy, the Pentagon’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, and its strike group – more than 4,000 sailors and dozens of tactical aircraft – arrived in Latin America on Tuesday.
With information from EFE