Venezuela just staged one of its most aggressive, and impressive military displays in years, and the message was clear.
More than 5,600 fighters stood in formation, declaring themselves revolutionary, socialist, and, above all, loyal to the Bolivarian revolution. They boasted training under a “tactical resistance” doctrine that blends soldiers, police, and civilians into a single combat force prepared for a prolonged war. These 5,600 fighters were just sworn in as a new, trained force to buttress the mililtary effort, in response to US imperialist aggression.
Commanders told the crowd that Venezuela’s strength now lies in a fusion of the armed forces with the people.
The first speaker declared, “5600 revolutionary, socialist fighters, and today more than ever, deeply Chavista, trained under the tactical method of revolutionary resistance in perfect popular, military and police fusion. Know this, my Major General, these fighters, these men and women who are in formation today, will show the country, will show the entire world that Venezuela commands respect. Venezuela has an armed force united with the people, fused, trained, prepared and motivated.
He continued, “Under no circumstances will we allow the invasion of an empire. If the homeland needs us, if the homeland demands our lives, give us the order, and we will immediately, go out to defend it.”
The military display showcased weapons, rockets, missiles, and doctrines for both conventional and irregular warfare. Leaders said these tools are what guarantee “peace,” arguing that only a heavily armed nation can deter US imperial power.
They also highlighted elite special-operations forces trained to fight in extreme conditions anywhere: under the earth, on the surface, in jungles, mountains, and cities. Venezuela intends to make itself “impenetrable.”
The Major General declared, “In the face of disproportionate power of the North American imperialists, we review and adjust the Bolivarian military doctrine, which is the doctrine of prolonged people’s war, which is the doctrine of resistance warfare.”
This latest demonstration hints that the Venezuelan socialist project, like the Vietnamese, the revolutionary Palestinian Resistance led by Hamas, and many others, will implement Mao’s strategy of guerrilla war against imperialist US forces.
The General proudly declared, “But its just that not long ago, only 214 years since independence, only four generations ago, we were under the leadership of General Simon Bolivar, also precisely in a prolonged people’s war; in a resistance war that turned the entire homeland into a guerrilla, the entire homeland into a rifle. “