Top Venezuelan Official Claims 'Military Forces' In The Region Have Offered Their Support Amid Tensions With The U.S.

Top Venezuelan official Diosdado Cabello said he received messages from other militaries in the region offering their support as tensions between the South American country and the U.S. continue to escalate.

"We have received (messages) from military forces from countries whose governments are not necessarily close to us," he added. "So indigenous people and military and police forces from other countries will come to Venezuela to support this nation," said Cabello, the country's interior minister.

During the same allocution, Cabello said the regime will take all international help it can get to counter what he described as an "aggression" from Washington.

"If we haven't made the call publicly to the peoples of the world to organize and defend our country, I take advantage of this moment to do it now. Venezuela is under aggression, so all help you can give will be welcome. You will be welcomed like brothers," Cabello said.

A recent report quoted insiders claiming that authoritarian President Nicolas Maduro won't relinquish power despite increased pressure. Speaking to Spanish outlet El Pais, one people with knowledge of the regime's thinking said "Maduro is not going anywhere." "Maduro has practically no other fate than resisting whatever comes and waiting for Trump to hesitate," the person added.

U.S. President Donald Trump has anticipated the possibility of escalating the situation further with strikes inside Venezuela territory. The administration has so far conducted at least four strikes off the country's coast and targeting vessels it claimed were transporting drugs that would ultimately in the U.S.

However, the report added, the South American country's leaders (Delcy and Jorge Rodriguez, Diosdado Cabello and Vladimir Padrino Lopez), along with Maduro, have "developed their survival instincts to the fullest after more than six years of governing in extreme situations," and think "this storm shall pass too."

Concretely, they believe that the cost of an armed clash would be too high for the U.S. and Trump will back down before getting to that point.

However, the officials remain defiant. Diosdado Cabello said during the weekend that "they have no idea who they're facing, we'll eat them alive." He went on to say that even if the U.S. invades the country, "those who set foot in our land must know that we will kick you out."