Nicolas Maduro Claims That If The U.S. Attacks Venezuela 'The Working Class Will Declare a General Insurrectional Strike'

Venezuela's authoritarian President Nicolas Maduro said that, should the U.S. attack the country, he will "declare a general insurrectional strike."

"Should imperialists cause us harm, from the very moment an order of mobilization and combat for the entire Venezuelan people is announced, the working class would also announce a general insurrectional strike and not a pin would drop in this country," Maduro said during a public allocution.

"What do we care about what the empire says? Neither the president nor Congress. In Venezuela and South America we are determined to be free," Maduro added.

He has been taunting the Trump administration since the beginning of the Trump administration's military campaign in the Caribbean and the Eastern Pacific, which has included repeated strikes against alleged drug vessels and statements from officials claiming that the regime's days are numbered.

During the weekend, Maduro called on Latin American countries to "proclaim the unconditional defense of our America as a peace zone."

Maduro made the claim in a letter to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), which hosted a summit along with the European Union in Colombia.

"The union of America is not a rhetorical gesture, but the condition of our liberty and key to our dignity," Maduro said during a passage of the lengthy letter.

Maduro added that two centuries after independence wars from Spain, "the forms of siege have change but not their essence." "Naval and aerial formations are being deployed in the Caribbean, including cutting-edge aircraft carriers, destroyers and nuclear submarines," Maduro added, noting that the operations "have led to the death of civilians in the high-seas and have been defined by the UN's High Commissioner as extra-judicial killings."

"There is no middle ground here. The principle is clear and decisive. Sovereignty of the states and self-determination of the peoples. Venezuela declares it clearly. It doesn't accept nor it will accept any form of tutelage. We don't accept, under any euphemisms like security or fighting against drug-trafficking, the imposition of the old Monroe doctrine, which seeks to turn our America into a stage for invasions and regime changes to steal our immense riches and natural resources," Maduro added.