(MENAFN) Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has called on the country’s air force to remain “ready and resolute” in defending the nation after US President Donald Trump threatened potential land operations in the region.

The Pentagon has deployed warships to the Caribbean and conducted strikes on small Venezuelan vessels it claims are used for drug trafficking—actions Washington frames as counternarcotics operations, but Caracas denounces as illegal. US officials have accused Maduro of overseeing a cartel-linked regime and hinted at possible direct military action. Maduro rejects the allegations and has warned against a “crazy war.”

Speaking Thursday, Maduro instructed members of the Bolivarian Military Aviation to stay “alert and ready,” emphasizing that Venezuelans would defend their country. “I ask you to always remain serene, alert, ready and willing to defend our rights as a nation, as a free and sovereign homeland,” he said, adding that 82% of Venezuelans reportedly support defending the country “with weapons in hand.”

The remarks followed Trump’s claims that the US would soon expand efforts to halt Venezuelan drug shipments on land, praising the Air Force’s 7th Bomb Wing for cutting maritime trafficking by about 85%. Trump warned that traffickers were “killing hundreds of thousands” of Americans and said land-based operations would begin imminently.

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