The Venezuelan military began distributing rifles to civilians in working-class neighborhoods on December 22 to organize local militias capable of forming an armed resistance in the event of a foreign invasion, according to an X post by Visegrád 24 published during the past 30 minutes ending at 2:46 p.m. UTC. The official purpose, as stated in the Visegrád 24 report at https://x.com/visegrad24/status/2003078151753400490, is to enable these militias to defend against potential foreign threats. This development occurs amid heightened U.S.-Venezuela tensions, including recent U.S. pursuit of the sanctioned Venezuelan-linked oil tanker M/T Bella 1 northeast of Venezuela, as confirmed by a U.S. official to NewsNation on December 22, and U.S. Air Force deployments to Puerto Rico such as the C-17A Globemaster III earlier today.
