Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s military has prepared a long-term guerrilla resistance strategy and a plan to plunge the country into deliberate chaos if the United States attempts a ground invasion to remove him, according to a new Reuters investigation.
The report indicates that Maduro recognises Venezuela’s armed forces are vastly outmatched by U.S. military power. Instead of directly confronting a potential invasion, senior officials have outlined a strategy of dispersed, persistent guerrilla warfare and a coordinated “anarchization” campaign aimed at preventing Washington from installing a new government.
Tensions have been rising in recent weeks, with the U.S. moving more than 10 warships—including the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier—and a Marine Expeditionary Unit into the Caribbean.
Documents and officials cited in the report say that if the U.S. were to strike by land or air, Venezuela would immediately implement a “prolonged resistance” plan. Under this strategy, military units would divide into more than 280 covert positions nationwide to carry out ambushes, sabotage operations, and hit-and-run attacks. Maduro has also deployed around 5,000 Russian-made Igla MANPADS, which one source said are reserved for sudden strikes against aerial threats.
Security officials have reinforced all routes leading into Caracas, building fortified roadblocks with heavy machinery and anti-vehicle obstacles designed to slow any ground advance. Alongside this, intelligence agents and loyalist networks would reportedly activate an “anarchization” strategy—fomenting unrest in the capital and making it effectively ungovernable for any U.S.-installed transitional authority.
Despite Venezuela’s National Bolivarian Armed Forces (FANB) claiming roughly 123,000 active troops, sources say the army remains small, undertrained, and dependent on outdated Soviet-era equipment purchased under Hugo Chávez—gear that would offer little defence against advanced U.S. weapons systems.
Maduro is also expected to call up the so-called eight-million-member civilian militia, though analysts cited in the report believe only a few thousand truly loyal supporters would engage in armed resistance.
A conflict could be further complicated by third-party actors. Colombia’s National Liberation Army (ELN) and other guerrilla groups already operate along Venezuela’s western border, and narcotics trafficking organisations—whose activities Washington often cites when threatening action—could also become entangled in the conflict’s fallout.
Maduro continues to deny any ties between his government and drug trafficking networks, accusing the United States of inventing claims as a pretext to overthrow him and seize Venezuela’s extensive oil reserves.
0 Comments