U.S. military deployment in Caribbean mirrors colonial-era tactics: Venezuelan defense chief

CARACAS, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- The United States' military buildup in the Caribbean is a "revival of old colonial methods," Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez said Sunday.

"The current deployment of U.S. warships in the Caribbean Sea is nothing more than a blatant example of the reedition of the old colonizing approach," Padrino Lopez said in a statement commemorating Venezuela's Indigenous Resistance Day, which honors the struggle of indigenous peoples against colonization.

He accused Washington of seeking to "intimidate by force," adding that Venezuela's people and armed forces were "fully prepared and united" to defend national sovereignty.

"The battle we are fighting today is the same as 500 years ago: the defense of self-determination and the right to define our own destiny," he said.

The minister also criticized U.S. attempts to subdue sovereign nations through "economic blockades, unilateral coercive sanctions, hybrid warfare and constant threats of military intervention."

Padrino Lopez said the Indigenous Resistance Day reaffirms Venezuela's "irrevocable anti-imperialist and anti-colonialist vocation."

The Venezuelan government has repeatedly denounced the recent U.S. military deployment in the Caribbean as a threat to its sovereignty. ■