On the streets of Caracas in mid-October, the newly posted anti-American posters still smelled of glue, and were covered by more dazzling military deployment notices.
The news of three B-52 bombers rotating 241 kilometers away passed faster than the price fluctuations in the food market.
No one has taken the "America is going to do it" as a rumor, after all, the $3.62 billion suspension order hangs on the U.S. Department of Justice website, and the F-35 fighter jets have revolved in the Caribbean.
In August, the U.S. Department of Justice doubled the penalty for the arrest of Maduro to $3.6 billion, putting Maduro on the hat of “drug terrorists,” calling him the leader of a drug trafficking group.
The military action is even more pressing step by step, assembling warships, F-35 fighter jets and other forces in the Caribbean Sea, claiming to fight drugs, but sank five ships suspected of drug trafficking, and 27 people died in these operations.
It is clear to the outside world that poisoning is only a pretext, and the Maduro regime is the real goal.
On October 15, three U.S. B-52 bombers flew directly into the airspace of only 241 kilometers from Caracas, which is equivalent to the distance from Beijing to Tianjin.
On the same day, a U.S. flight carrying deported people tried to land in Venezuela, but Venezuela directly refused.
On the same day, Trump announced that he had authorized the CIA to take "secret action" and was asked whether the CIA had the right to "get rid of Maduro". He didn't say yes directly, but he didn't deny it, saying only that "this is not an absurd question".
Maduro’s attitude from the outset has slowly turned into a total alert.
The New York Times on October 6 that Maduro had previously thought about concessions, proposing to transfer large shares of Venezuelan oil and other mineral resources to the United States in exchange for the easing of bilateral relations, which was directly rejected by Trump.
Trump ordered Grenel, the special envoy for Venezuela, to sever all ties with Caracas that day.
Maduro began full-fledged defense after touching the nails. Military airports in Caracas and the Caribbean coastline, rocket launchers appeared in succession.
Maduro always follows many civilians when he goes out. Everyone suspects that this is to prevent drone attacks.
He also recorded TV shows from the fixed Milla Flores Palace to several hotels in turn. Phil Gonson of the International Crisis Organization says that this is obviously a strategy for using human body shields.
On October 7, Venezuela requested an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on the grounds of “fear of armed attacks in the near future.”
However, a few hours after opposition leader machado won the Nobel Peace Prize, the special envoys of the Western Security Council didn't discuss the situation at the meeting, but congratulated machado one by one. Moncada, the representative of Venezuela, fell into a passive position on the spot, and the emergency meeting didn't play the expected role.
In the past month, something has complicated the situation.
At the end of September, the Venezuelan military seized a shipment of weapons smuggled from the United States near the Colombian border, including 20 assault rifles, more than 500 bullets and 10 hand grenades.
According to the confession of the arrested smugglers, these weapons are to be handed over to the opposition in Venezuela, and they plan to engage in sabotage activities in late October.
Maduro immediately ordered the strengthening of border control, and also made public the confessions of smugglers and photos of seized weapons, thus proving that the United States secretly supported the opposition in subversion.
Disagreements inside Venezuela have also added turmoil to the situation, with opposition leader Machado planned to run for former ambassador Gonzales as a replacement candidate in July last year, despite being banned from the regime.
After the election, Machado ordered thousands of volunteers to collect the original receipts from the polling stations, with written records that “Gonzales won, the Maduro group stole votes.”
A psychology student in Caracas said that Maduro and the others stole votes and had to pay the price. Machado is still in hiding, but often sends messages to supporters through channels, saying that "Maduro's rule is coming to an end, and the regime has been divided."
Diplomatic analysts have analyzed that the Maduro regime is like the mafia and sees survival as the heaviest, and even if there is dissatisfaction in the lower army, it will be quickly suppressed.
Phil Gonson, on the other hand, reminded that those militias, drug trafficking gangs and armed rebels in Colombia, although few in number, are very likely to destroy, and these people can create terrorist unrest, not many, but a few.
The two sides are still at a stalemate. Trump mentioned that "the fleet needs to turn to land targets", hinting that it may attack "drug bases" in remote areas of Venezuela.
Maduro also said that if the US dares to do so, it will start a "state of emergency", and then more opposition figures may be arrested.
Although the situation is tense, hope for peace has never disappeared, and the international community has been calling on both sides to resolve differences through dialogue and avoid escalation of conflict.
Whether it is an external confrontation or an internal game, ordinary people are ultimately affected. I believe that as long as both sides are willing to sit down and talk, they can always find a way to avoid turmoil, which is the result that everyone wants to see most.