By Latin America Reports | Created at 2025-01-15 10:46:48 | Updated at 2025-01-15 14:49:01
4 hours ago
Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro over the weekend made controversial statements proposing to “liberate” Puerto Rico using Brazilian troops.
In reference to United States President-elect Donald Trump’s controversial comments about taking control of the Panama Canal, Greenland and Canada, Maduro said, “Just as the North has an agenda of colonization, we have an agenda of liberation.”
Speaking at the closure of the “International Anti-Fascist Festival” hosted in Caracas, the authoritarian leader affirmed that the “freedom of Puerto Rico is pending, and we will achieve it with Brazilian troops.”
Puerto Rico has been an unincorporated territory of the United States since 1898. After a referendum in 1952, the island became a “free associated state” or commonwealth, and its residents can vote for a governor and a legislative assembly.
The comments were accompanied by historical reminiscences as Maduro claimed that this “agenda of liberation” was given to them by Simon Bolívar, who led the independence of many Latin American countries. He also made reference to José Inácio de Abreu e Lima, a Brazilian military officer who participated in the Spanish American Wars of Independence.
Maduro continued, “And Abreu e Lima will be in front, Abreu e Lima battalion to liberate Puerto Rico, what do you think?”
Reacting on X, Eric Farnsworth, Vice President of the Americas Society and Council of the Americas (AS/COA) said that the move “lacks the punch of Fidel urging the Soviets to nuke Miami during the Missile Crisis, but maybe he’s just having a down day. Meantime, um someone want to alert Brazil?”
In response to Maduro’s comments, the governor of Puerto Rico, Jenniffer González sent a letter to Trump accusing the Venezuelan leader of threatening to invade the country.
Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro called for an invasion of Puerto Rico, an open threat to the United States and our national security. I sent a letter to President @realDonaldTrump, trusting his administration will swiftly respond and make clear to the Maduro narco-regime that… pic.twitter.com/fmq32X793n
— Jenniffer González (@Jenniffer) January 13, 2025On X, González said that Maduro’s comments were “an open threat to the United States and our national security.”
González branded Maduro a dictator and described his swearing-in ceremony as “illegitimate.”
The letter urged Trump to “swiftly respond and make clear to the Maduro narco-regime that the U.S. will protect American lives and sovereignty and won’t bow down to petty, murderous thugs.”
