Maduro praises Cuban solidarity, highlights military exercises
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Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro thanks Cuba for massive solidarity, emphasizing unity, and reports the completion of Independence 200 military exercises.
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Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro gives a press conference in Caracas, Venezuela, on September 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Jesus Vargas)
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, in a speech early on Saturday, thanked the people and leadership of Cuba for their massive solidarity, affirming that Cuba and Venezuela will stand together in all circumstances.
He praised the submission of 4,387,000 Cuban signatures collected in universities, workplaces, and communities, rejecting US threats against South American peace and Venezuela’s stability.
Maduro also announced the completion of the Independence 200 military exercises, involving four comprehensive defense regions across the states of Mérida, Trujillo, Lara, and Yaracuy, and highlighted the "huge and massive" marches in towns and villages across these regions.
Concluding his address, he said, "We love peace, we want peace, and we will continue to achieve peace, because we are the people of the liberators in the Americas." Meanwhile, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez condemned secret operations by the CIA against Venezuela, which the US government recently acknowledged.
That said, the Trump administration has secretly given the CIA permission to conduct covert operations in Venezuela, which includes carrying out deadly strikes, representing an escalation of the campaign against Maduro and his government, according to a New York Times report from Wednesday that cited unnamed sources.
These operations could involve strikes within Venezuela, which is a more serious step than recent US attacks on boats off the coast, attacks that were supposedly linked to drug trafficking and have so far caused 27 deaths, according to the report. The goal behind all these actions is to oust Maduro from power, sources told the NYT.
On a related note, in a sharply worded speech delivered in Brasília, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva defended the sovereignty of both Venezuela and Cuba, stating that no foreign leader should offer an opinion on the internal governance of those nations.
Speaking at the Communist Party of Brazil’s congress on Thursday, Lula said that Venezuelans “are owners of their destiny,” echoed a long-standing Brazilian doctrine of non-intervention, and praised the late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez.
His statement comes amid heightened tensions in Latin America as the United States continues to escalate its hostility and aggressive actions against Venezuela, with Trump approving CIA operations against Caracas.
