For struggling Venezuelans, specter of US invasion is a remote concern: We've been hearing the same story for a while'

"As U.S. President Donald Trump was announcing a military attack on a boat he claimed had left the Venezuelan coast loaded with drugs, Nicolas Maduro, acting unaware of the situation, appeared on television on Tuesday. The Venezuelan president looked relaxed and in a good mood, recalling his beginnings as a political activist in El Valle, an impoverished neighborhood west of Caracas, and trying to convey that he maintains political control over his government."

"The state of alert remains at its highest level within the power structures of the Bolivarian Revolution in this latest clash with the White House. On the streets of Venezuela, however, daily life largely unfolds outside these tensions. Few citizens, in fact, foresee the imminence of an armed conflict or a regime change in Venezuela. Maduro had earlier asserted that if attacked, the Chavistas will declare an armed struggle,"

"The government is now working hard to document in great detail, through constant broadcasts on state television, the anti-drug operations carried out by the Army and the National Guard in the states of Zulia, Tachira, and Amazonas, bordering Colombia. Police and military checkpoints have been deployed on the streets, conducting patrols and intelligence work. Uniformed personnel have been sent to overcrowded, suburban neighborhoods of the city, searching for potential recruits."

U.S. and Venezuelan tensions escalate as a U.S. president announces a military attack on a drug-loaded boat while Nicolas Maduro appears on television acting unaware and projecting calm. Maduro recalls his activist origins and signals continued political control. The Bolivarian Revolution's power structures remain at maximum alert, though daily life largely remains detached and few citizens expect imminent armed conflict or regime change. Maduro warned that Chavistas would declare armed struggle if attacked, reinforcing the movement's civic-military character. The government widely broadcasts anti-drug operations in border states, deploys checkpoints and patrols, and organizes nationalist civilian recruitment drives in Caracas.

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