Venezuela's Maduro Makes Rare English-Spoken Plea to Trump Admin as Military Tensions Rise: 'No War, Yes Peace'

Venezuela's authoritarian President Nicolás Maduro issued a rare plea to Donald Trump in English, calling for peace with the United States as tensions between Caracas and Washington escalate following a series of U.S. military operations in the Caribbean and Pacific.

"Yes peace, yes peace forever. Peace forever. No crazy war, please!" Maduro said in English during a meeting with pro-government labor unions in Caracas. Maduro's comments were met with applause from the audience. Switching between Spanish and English, he repeated the appeal several times: "No war. No war. No crazy war. Yes peace. Please, peace forever."

Since early September, U.S. forces have expanded operations off Venezuela's coast and in the eastern Pacific. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has compared the campaign to the post-9/11 war on terror, saying, "We will find you, we will map your networks, we will hunt you down, and we will kill you."

As a result, the United States has deployed stealth bombers, warships, and drones as part of a military campaign it says targets narcotics trafficking in regional waters. The Pentagon has not provided evidence that the eight vessels and one semi-submersible attacked since September were engaged in drug smuggling. At least 37 people have been killed in the strikes, according to figures compiled by AFP.

Flight data compiled on Thursday showed that two American B1-Lancers flew just 6 miles away from the Venezuelan coast before returning north, an approach that president Trump denied during a White House roundtable meeting.

Venezuelan officials have accused Washington of attempting to justify regime change under the guise of anti-drug operations. "We know the CIA is present in Venezuela," Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino said Thursday. "They may deploy CIA-affiliated units in covert operations, and any attempt will fail."

Maduro has also ordered military exercises along the coast and activated what the government calls Zonas Operativas de Defensa Integral (ZODI), a network of regional defense units combining military personnel, police, and civilians under direct command of the armed forces. The move, involving tens of thousands of troops, is part of an initiative known as Objective Independence 200, launched after the first U.S. maritime strikes.

The Venezuelan authoritarian leader's English-language appeal marks his second public plea in as many weeks. On October 17, he addressed the Trump administration in a televised message, also in English: "Not war, yes peace. With the people of the United States. Please, please, please. Listen to me."