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.



Man Who Stabbed Author Salman Rushdie on Stage Has Been Sentenced to 25 years in Prison

Hadi Matar arrives for his trial on charges of second-degree attempted murder and second-degree assault dating to an attack on Satanic Verses author Salman Rushdie, at Chautauqua County Court in Mayville, New York, US February 11, 2025. REUTERS/Robert Frank/File Photo
Hadi Matar arrives for his trial on charges of second-degree attempted murder and second-degree assault dating to an attack on Satanic Verses author Salman Rushdie, at Chautauqua County Court in Mayville, New York, US February 11, 2025. REUTERS/Robert Frank/File Photo
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Man Who Stabbed Author Salman Rushdie on Stage Has Been Sentenced to 25 years in Prison

Hadi Matar arrives for his trial on charges of second-degree attempted murder and second-degree assault dating to an attack on Satanic Verses author Salman Rushdie, at Chautauqua County Court in Mayville, New York, US February 11, 2025. REUTERS/Robert Frank/File Photo
Hadi Matar arrives for his trial on charges of second-degree attempted murder and second-degree assault dating to an attack on Satanic Verses author Salman Rushdie, at Chautauqua County Court in Mayville, New York, US February 11, 2025. REUTERS/Robert Frank/File Photo

The man convicted of stabbing Salman Rushdie on a New York lecture stage in 2022, leaving the prizewinning author blind in one eye, was sentenced Friday to serve 25 years in prison.
A jury found Hadi Matar, 27, guilty of attempted murder and assault in February, The AP news reported.
Rushdie did not return to court to the western New York courtroom for his assailant’s sentencing but submitted a victim impact statement. During the trial, the 77-year-old author was the key witness, describing how he believed he was dying when a masked attacker plunged a knife into his head and body more than a dozen times as he was being introduced at the Chautauqua Institution to speak about writer safety.
Before being sentenced, Matar stood and made a statement about freedom of speech in which he called Rushdie a hypocrite.
Matar received the maximum 25-year sentence for the attempted murder of Rushdie and seven years for wounding a man who was on stage with him. The sentences must run concurrently because both victims were injured in the same event, District Attorney Jason Schmidt said.
In requesting the maximum sentence, Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt told the judge that Matar “chose this. He designed this attack so that he could inflict the most amount of damage, not just upon Mr. Rushdie, but upon this community, upon the 1,400 people who were there to watch it.”
Public defender Nathaniel Barone pointed out that Matar had a otherwise clean criminal record and disputed that the people in the audience should be considered victims, suggesting that a sentence of 12 years would be appropriate.
Rushdie spent 17 days at a Pennsylvania hospital and more than three weeks at a New York City rehabilitation center. The author of “Midnight's Children,” “The Moor’s Last Sigh" and “Victory City” detailed his recovery in his 2024 memoir, “Knife.”
Matar next faces a federal trial on terrorism-related charges. While the first trial focused mostly on the details of the knife attack itself, the next one is expected to delve into the more complicated issue of motive.
Authorities said Matar, a US citizen, was attempting to carry out a decades-old fatwa, or edict, calling for Rushdie’s death when he traveled from his home in Fairview, New Jersey, to target Rushdie at the summer retreat about 70 miles (112.6 kilometers) southwest of Buffalo.
Matar pleaded not guilty to a three-count indictment charging him with providing material to terrorists, attempting to provide material support to Hezbollah and engaging in terrorism transcending national boundaries.
Video of the assault, captured by the venue's cameras and played at trial, show Matar approaching the seated Rushdie from behind and reaching around him to stab at his torso with a knife. As the audience gasps and screams, Rushdie is seen raising his arms and rising from his seat, walking and stumbling for a few steps with Matar hanging on, swinging and stabbing until they both fall and are surrounded by onlookers who rush in to separate them.
Jurors in Matar's first trial delivered their verdict after less than two hours of deliberation.