Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has repeated calls for peace and pledged “absolute loyalty” to his people at a rally attended by thousands in Caracas, as tensions escalate over potential military action by the United States.
The rally on Monday came as US President Donald Trump met with his national security team at the White House to discuss the “next steps” on Venezuela, according to media reports.
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Maduro, addressing a crowd waving Venezuelan flags outside the presidential palace in Caracas, said his country wanted peace, but only a peace “with sovereignty, equality and freedom”.
“We do not want a slave’s peace, nor the peace of colonies! Colony, never! Slaves, never!” he said.
The Trump administration has been piling pressure on Venezuela with a military buildup in the Caribbean, in what it calls an anti-drug trafficking campaign. Caracas says the actions are aimed at toppling Maduro’s government.
The US has amassed 15,000 troops in the region and deployed the world’s largest aircraft carrier there, while also designating the Cartel de los Soles, which it describes as a drug trafficking cartel led by Maduro, as a “terrorist” organisation.
It has also carried out at least 21 strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific since September, killing at least 83 people.
Experts say the assembled US firepower far outweighs what is necessary for a drug-trafficking operation, while Caracas says the US is seeking regime change to take control of Venezuela’s vast natural resources, including oil.
Maduro on Monday accused the US of waging a campaign of “psychological terrorism”.
“We have endured 22 weeks of aggression that can be described as psychological terrorism,” he said. “These 22 weeks have put us to the test, and the people of Venezuela have demonstrated their love for the homeland,” he added.
Trump-Maduro call
Trump, meanwhile, confirmed on Sunday that he spoke to Maduro on the phone, but declined to give details, saying it did not go “well or badly”.
The Reuters news agency, citing four sources familiar with the matter, reported on Monday that Trump offered Maduro safe passage out of Venezuela during the short call on November 21.
Maduro told Trump he was willing to leave Venezuela, provided he and his family members had full legal amnesty, including the removal of all US sanctions and the end of a flagship case he faces before the International Criminal Court (ICC), Reuters reported, citing three of the sources.
He also requested removal of sanctions for more than 100 Venezuelan government officials, many accused by the US of human rights abuses, drug trafficking or corruption, Reuters said.
Trump rejected most of his requests on the call, but told Maduro he had a week to leave Venezuela for the destination of his choice alongside his family members.
That safe passage expired on Friday, prompting Trump to declare on Saturday that Venezuela’s airspace was closed, two of the sources told Reuters.
There was no immediate comment from the US or Venezuela about the report.
The Trump administration has said it does not recognise Maduro, who has been in power since 2013, as Venezuela’s legitimate president. Maduro claimed a re-election victory last year in a national ballot that the US and other Western governments dismissed as a sham, and which independent observers said the opposition won overwhelmingly.
Al Jazeera’s Teresa Bo, reporting from Cucuta on the Colombia-Venezuela border, said Maduro’s appearance at the Caracas rally came amid rumours that he had left the country following Trump’s declaration about the closure of Venezuela’s airspace.
Bo said people crossing the Simon Bolivar bridge between the two countries were “extremely concerned about the possibility of a military strike” by the US on Venezuela.
“In the meantime, Venezuela continues to deploy military units across the country. They are protecting the capital, Caracas, specifically the main highway that connects to the airport and the coastal areas of Venezuela. We have seen the minister of defence, Vladimir Padrino Lopez, show off some military equipment, among them aerial defences [and] fighter jets,” she said.
Sources in Venezuela told Al Jazeera that they know the country’s military is no match for the US, she said.
“That’s why they are focusing on another strategy. And this would include irregular attacks, sabotage, using criminal groups, government supporters, and possibly guerrillas, among others,” Bo said.
“The main idea would be to generate chaos [and] anarchy, and that’s something that concerns many people in the country. And there are some that say that even though they would like to see Maduro go, they are concerned that violence could take over their country.”