“No crazy war please!”: with this phrase in English the president of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro addressed the Americans, as he continues to see a threat of American attacks if not military invasion.

In August, the US began deploying warships, including amphibious assault ships and destroyers, a nuclear-powered submarine and state-of-the-art fighters, to the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico as part of what Washington presents as an anti-drug operation targeting Venezuela in particular and the president himself Maduro.

“Yes peace”, “peace forever”, “No crazy war, please!”, “No a la guerra loca, no crazy war!” (“yes to peace, peace forever, no crazy war please, no to crazy war”), Mr Maduro insisted, alternating between English and Spanish, during a gathering of trade unionists close to his government, addressing “to American workers”.

“This is the language of Tarzan”Mr. Maduro joked, translating what he said and adding more “not in the madness of war.”

Washington has announced since September nine strikes against speederswho according to her were transporting drugs, in the Caribbean and in the Pacificwith a total of at least 37 dead. The legality of the US operations is questioned by experts, as they are conducted in foreign or international territorial waters and the suspects are neither arrested nor questioned.

Faced with the deployment of US military assets with impressive firepower since August, President Maduro ordered military high schools to be held and yesterday noted that equipment purchased by Caracas was tested in them from Russia and China. “Thanks to President (Vladimir) Putin, thanks to Russia, thanks to China and thanks to many more friends in the world, Venezuela has the equipment to guarantee peace,” he said.

In Mr. Maduro’s view, the US government is using drug trafficking as a pretext for enforcement “regime change”, to get his hands on his country’s vast oil reserves.