Venezuela: President Maduro Flexes Military Muscle in Drills

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has appeared to flex his military muscle by publicly reiterating that the nation possesses a defense strategy capable of combating any threat and will be refining its execution in this weekend's civic-military exercises.

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Maduro made his comments during a demonstration by the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB) on Saturday, where he presided over the multinational defense exercises, and pointed out that of the 12 anti-aircraft rockets launched during the drill, 11 were made by Venezuelans.

Cooperation agreements have been put in place with China, Iran, Belarus, Turkey and soon India to test new weapons technologies in order to protect Venezuela's peace, stability and sovereignty, Maduro said.

The president also announced that he had approved new funds to bolster defense and transportation in Venezuela's armed forces, due for use during the April 22 presidential elections and to be paid in new national cryptocurrency, the Petro.  

"We are going to invest more in anti-aircraft defense, to make all regions of the country impregnable," Maduro posted on Twitter.

Announcing the drills earlier this month, Maduro said they were intended to fine-tune the movements of the armed forces' tanks, missiles and helicopters as part of the nation's defense strategy.

Posting on Twitter at the time, Maduro also said the nation would reject any "foreign imperial boot" attempting to invade Venezuelan territory. "If we want peace, we must prepare to win it," said the president.