As Venezuela continues to be plagued by violence, famine and illness, the contested President Nicolas Maduro is called for more people to join the civilian militia that is still loyal to him. He calls for at least a million more people to join the ranks of his militia and praises the people already part of the militia for their readiness to ” defend, with arms in hand, (the) peace, sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence and the life of our homeland.” He said this during a speech in Caracas. Maduro calling for more militia members is thought to be done to help protect him both physically and politically since his opponent Juan Guaido is backed by multiple other countries, the US included. He has also asked that the existing two million members of the civilian militia to help with agriculture as the country suffers from a food shortage.
The situation in Venezuela is unstable as always. It seems as if Maduro is trying to grasp as hard as he can to any support he has or can garner. With Russian military assistance and planes on the ground in Caracas, Guaido touring other Latin American countries for support and pressure from the US its easy to understand that Venezuela is reaching its boiling point. By this point, about four months after Guaido declared himself the interim president, I thought things would have already boiled over in Venezuela but the slow, contentious events that have lead us to this point are different than I imagined but just as dire.
Latin American Reflections 