That was the message that President Nicolas Maduro would broadcast the last weekend, while presiding over a military exercise that put in front his troops and weapons amid the political crisis in the country.
Must "prepare for an invasion, I think we're as prepared as we ever were and avoid" Maduro said during a speech before a military vehicle.
That show of force was not intended to intimidate the Pentagon. It is obvious that the Obama administration has absolutely no interest in waging war against Venezuela. Rather, it is a diversionary tactic in order to deflate the effort to bring Maduro from office through a referendum.
The army could play a key role if the confrontation between Maduro and opposition intensifies. Opposition leaders do not support a coup, arguing that the removal of the president should happen through legal means, so they have asked the armed forces to abide by the constitution and ignore the dictatorial edicts Maduro. Recently, the president imposed a state of emergency to quell public demonstrations.
Maduro's government exaggerated the threat of a US invasion for several weeks. In April, propaganda media controlled by the state discussed a document of the US military, supposedly filtering, in which the detailed plan of invasion.
The document, entitled "Freedom-2 Operation Venezuela" is false, according to Lisa Garcia, spokesman for the United States Southern Command. (Venezuelans could have invented a catchy and credible name for this false campaign, right?).
Beyond the veracity of external threats, something that is not in question it is that Venezuela has spent more money than any other country in Latin America in arms in recent years, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), an organization which records arms sales worldwide.
Between 2011 and 2015, Venezuela was ranked number 18 among large buyers of military equipment in the world. The government has supplied warplanes, helicopter gunships, tanks, artillery and missiles. Most of the material was imported from Russia under contracts negotiated by President Vladimir Putin and President Hugo Chavez, Maduro's predecessor who died in 2013.
Sam Perlo-Freeman, a researcher with the SIPRI, said in an email that such purchases are not entirely rational. "If I really fear a US invasion, a dozen fighter jets would be totally useless because it probably would be destroyed on the ground during the first 15 minutes of an attack," he said.
Offered a theory that makes more sense: "There unleashed corruption in Venezuela and that can greatly influence both the level and type of purchased equipment, as large negotiations weapons can be lucrative sources of bribes," Perlo-Freeman wrote .
Since oil prices plummeted in recent years and thus triggered a recession, Venezuela has significantly reduced military spending. In fact, he made no new orders in 2015, according Perlo-Freeman.
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