Socialist dictator of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro threatened to use Brazilian troops to “liberate” Puerto Rico from the United States’ “colonization” in remarks this weekend.
Maduro, fresh from being sworn in for his third fraudulently obtained six-year presidential term, issued his warning on Saturday during the closure of the “International Anti-Fascist World Festival,” an anti-U.S., far-left gathering conveniently hosted by the ruling Venezuelan socialists in Caracas on the sidelines of Maduro’s fraudulent inauguration under the guise of “fighting fascism.”
According to Venezuelan state media, the gathering attracted “more than 2,000 participants” and is a follow-up to a related anti-U.S. and anti-Israel gathering hosted in November.
“Just as in the north they have an agenda of colonization, we have an agenda of liberation. The agenda was written by [Venezuelan independence hero] Simón Bolívar. The freedom of Puerto Rico is pending, and we are going to conquer it,” Maduro said, before pointing to an individual he described as “Breno.”
“With the troops of Brazil. And Abreu de Lima at the front. The [Brazilian historical figure that participated in South America’s independence movements José Inácio] Abreu e Lima Battalion to liberate Puerto Rico, what do you think?” he asked.
In addition to claiming that Brazilian troops would “liberate” Puerto Rico, Maduro also warned that he is preparing for an “armed offensive” alongside the fellow authoritarian regimes of Cuba and Nicaragua in should a foreign intervention take place in Venezuela.
“We are preparing ourselves together with Cuba and Nicaragua and together with our older brothers in the world so that if one day we have to take up arms and defend the right to peace and sovereignty, we will fight in armed struggle and win it again,” Maduro said. “We are not lukewarm leaders, we are the Bolivarian revolution.”
Governor of Puerto Rico Jenniffer González-Colón responded to Maduro’s threats on Monday in remarks given to the local newspaper El Nuevo Dia. González-Colón asserted that she would not take the dictator’s words “lightly.”
“I think this is part of his campaign. Obviously, I’m not going to take it lightly. It’s not the first time he’s talked about this, but it’s the first time he’s talked about an army invading Puerto Rico so I will take action with the federal authorities,” González-Colón said.
“Remember there is a warrant out for the arrest of this narco-dictator, so no wonder. He is a fugitive from the federal government,” she added.
Asked if Maduro’s threats would prompt Puerto Rico to implement greater security measures, Governor González-Colón, who recently took office, answered that she has to wait for the U.S. government for “the coordination and the notifications that are being made.”
González-Colón formally issued a letter to President-elect Donald Trump on Monday evening expressing her willingness to work with his incoming administration to counter Maduro’s threats against the United States.
Throughout the nearly 26 years it has been in power, the authoritarian Venezuelan socialist regime has adopted the “independence” of Puerto Rico as a pet cause. Maduro, and many of his former and current top brass have repeatedly insisted that Puerto Rico was “colonized” by the United States and its legal status is “an affront and shame to humanity.” Maduro himself maintains friendly ties with Puerto Rico’s convicted communist terrorist Óscar López Rivera.
Since 2020, Maduro and other members of his regime have been actively wanted by U.S. authorities on multiple narco-terrorism charges. Maduro stands accused of being a leading figure of the Cartel of the Suns, an intercontinental cocaine trafficking operation run by high-ranking members of the Venezuelan military and some leading figures of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV).
Initially, the United States offered a $15 million bounty for information that can lead to Nicolás Maduro’s arrest and/or conviction. The bounty was raised to $25 million last week by the outgoing administration of U.S. President Joe Biden.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
