Journalists, digital activists, and influencers in Venezuela joined the national military enlistment campaign this Sunday, responding to President Nicolás Maduro’s call to defend the country’s peaceful, sovereign, and anti-imperialist character.

The initiative, held in Plaza Bolívar and across thousands of registration points nationwide, forms part of a broader mobilization aimed at reinforcing the country’s defensive posture amid rising geopolitical tensions.

Minister of Communication Freddy Ñáñez, who led the communicators’ participation, emphasized that in the most difficult moments, media professionals have taken to the streets to counter disinformation and uphold public morale. “Venezuela has never been a threat to anyone,” Ñáñez stated, describing the country as a “bastion of dignity and moral strength” prepared to defend itself.

He also highlighted the unity achieved across political lines, noting that “we have consolidated coexistence with sectors that are not socialist, but are nationalist in this moment, because in the face of an illegal, crude, and illegitimate threat, we must all unite.”

Ñáñez called on communicators to serve the country by defending the truth, even “with a pencil in one hand and a rifle in the other.” He framed the enlistment as a struggle for the right to exist collectively as republics, to develop, and to live in peace — a right Venezuela has earned over two centuries.

The enlistment campaign, which began on Saturday, August 23, comes amid renewed tensions with the United States, which Venezuela accuses of seeking control over its natural resources. The government views the mobilization as a civic-military response to protect national sovereignty and the regional commitment to peace.

These actions also reaffirm Venezuela’s support for the “Zone of Peace” declaration adopted by the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) in 2014, which calls for the peaceful resolution of disputes and the rejection of force in regional affairs.

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