Maduro Calls for Military Loyalty after Trump’s Threat

In this file handout picture provided by Miraflores Press, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro (C) speaks during a visit to a military training camp in the state of Vargas, Venezuela, 21 May 2016. Miraflores Press/Handout
In this file handout picture provided by Miraflores Press, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro (C) speaks during a visit to a military training camp in the state of Vargas, Venezuela, 21 May 2016. Miraflores Press/Handout
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Maduro Calls for Military Loyalty after Trump’s Threat

In this file handout picture provided by Miraflores Press, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro (C) speaks during a visit to a military training camp in the state of Vargas, Venezuela, 21 May 2016. Miraflores Press/Handout
In this file handout picture provided by Miraflores Press, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro (C) speaks during a visit to a military training camp in the state of Vargas, Venezuela, 21 May 2016. Miraflores Press/Handout

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Thursday warned the armed forces against "fissures" in their ranks, ahead of war games seen as a show of strength after US President Donald Trump threatened military action.

"We must be clear, especially for the youth in the military, that we must close ranks within the homeland -- that this is no time for any fissures and that those with doubts should leave the armed forces immediately," Maduro said.

"You are with Trump and the imperialists, or you are with the Bolivarian national armed forces and the homeland," he added. "Never before has Venezuela been threatened in such a way."

Maduro launched the warning in a speech to his top military leadership, including General Vladimir Padrino, his defense minister, and General Remigio Ceballos, commander of operational strategy, two days before the drills begin Saturday.

Maduro has faced months of deadly mass protests by opponents who blame him for an economic crisis and are demanding elections to replace him. His main source of support is the military.

Venezuela's opposition has repeatedly urged the military to abandon Maduro, so far to no avail.

Maduro urged the military to "be prepared to fight fiercely... in the face of an eventual" US invasion.

"They treat us as a dictatorship," said the embattled president.

Since Trump's threat, Vice President Mike Pence sought to soften the message, saying during a visit to Latin America that he was sure democracy could be restored in Venezuela through economic and diplomatic pressure.

The Trump administration is considering additional sanctions against Venezuela's government, including a ban on trading the country's debt, a US administration official with knowledge of discussions said on Wednesday.

"It is just one option that is being talked about," the official told Reuters.

So far, Washington has applied economic sanctions directly targeting Maduro, who says the economic collapse that has dragged his country into crisis is a US-backed conspiracy.

The fall in world crude prices has left Venezuela -- which has the largest proven oil reserves in the world -- short of dollars for vital imports. The country is suffering from shortages of basic goods and medicines.

Meanwhile, Venezuela's government on Thursday ordered cable television providers to cut the signal of
two Colombian networks, a move that critics, including Colombia's leader, called a crackdown on free speech by
Maduro.

The country's telecommunications regulator called for RCN and Caracol Television to be taken off the air for broadcasting a message it said incited Maduro's murder, the office of Venezuela's presidency said in a statement.

"The measure is within the bounds of the law, given that those stations over several months attacked Venezuela and (its) institutionality," the statement said, citing Andres Mendez, former head of telecom regulator Conatel.



Jd Vance Goes to the Vatican Following Remarkable Papal Rebuke over Trump Crackdown on Migrants

US Vice President JD Vance, and his wife Usha Vance, left, with their daughter Mirabel, attend a Good Friday service led by Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti, right, inside St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
US Vice President JD Vance, and his wife Usha Vance, left, with their daughter Mirabel, attend a Good Friday service led by Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti, right, inside St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
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Jd Vance Goes to the Vatican Following Remarkable Papal Rebuke over Trump Crackdown on Migrants

US Vice President JD Vance, and his wife Usha Vance, left, with their daughter Mirabel, attend a Good Friday service led by Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti, right, inside St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
US Vice President JD Vance, and his wife Usha Vance, left, with their daughter Mirabel, attend a Good Friday service led by Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti, right, inside St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

US Vice President JD Vance is meeting with the Vatican No. 2 official, following a remarkable papal rebuke of the Trump administration’s crackdown on migrants and Vance’s theological justification of it.
Vance, a Catholic convert, was due to meet Saturday with the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin. There was speculation he might also briefly greet Pope Francis, who has begun resuming some official duties during his recovery from pneumonia.
Vance was spending Easter weekend in Rome with his family and attended Good Friday services in St. Peter’s Basilica on Friday after meeting with Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, The Associated Press said.
Francis and Vance have tangled sharply over migration and the Trump administration’s plans to deport migrants en masse. Francis has made caring for migrants a hallmark of his papacy and his progressive views on social justice issues have often put him at odds with members of the more conservative US Catholic Church.
Vance, who converted in 2019, identifies with a small Catholic intellectual movement, viewed by some critics as having reactionary or authoritarian leanings, that is often called “postliberal.”
Postliberals share some longstanding Catholic conservative views. They envision a counterrevolution in which they take over government bureaucracy and institutions like universities from within, replacing entrenched “elites” with their own and acting upon their vision of the “common good.”
Just days before he was hospitalized in February, Francis blasted the Trump administration’s deportation plans, warning that they would deprive migrants of their inherent dignity. In a letter to US bishops, Francis also appeared to respond to Vance directly for having claimed that Catholic doctrine justified such policies.
Vance had defended the administration’s America-first crackdown by citing a concept from medieval Catholic theology known in Latin as “ordo amoris.” He has said the concept delineates a hierarchy of care — to family first, followed by neighbor, community, fellow citizens and lastly those elsewhere.
In his Feb. 10 letter, Francis appeared to correct Vance’s understanding of the concept.
“Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests that little by little extends to other persons and groups,” he wrote. “The true ordo amoris that must be promoted is that which we discover by meditating constantly on the parable of the ‘Good Samaritan,’ that is, by meditating on the love that builds a fraternity open to all, without exception.”
Vance has acknowledged Francis’ criticism but has said he would continue to defend his views. During a Feb. 28 appearance at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in Washington, Vance didn’t address the issue specifically but called himself a “baby Catholic” and acknowledged there are “things about the faith that I don’t know.”
While he had criticized Francis on social media in the past, recently he has posted prayers for Francis’ recovery.
On Friday, Vance, his wife and three young children had front-row seats at the Vatican’s Good Friday service in St. Peter’s, a two-hour solemn commemoration featuring Latin and Italian readings. Francis did not attend.
But the pope has begun receiving visitors, including King Charles III, and this week ventured out of the Vatican to meet with prisoners at Rome's central jail to keep a Holy Thursday appointment ministering to the most marginalized.
He has named other cardinals to preside over Easter services this weekend, but officials haven't ruled out a possible brief greeting with Vance.
“I’m grateful every day for this job, but particularly today where my official duties have brought me to Rome on Good Friday,” Vance posted on X. “I wish all Christians all over the world, but particularly those back home in the US, a blessed Good Friday.”