President Trump on Monday shared a disturbing video of Caracas teaching civilians how to run with large assault rifles during a militia training event, as new polling indicates the majority of Venezuelans support the US leader’s crackdown on dictator Nicolas Maduro.
“TOP SECRET: We caught the Venezuelan militia in training. A very serious threat!” Trump posted to Truth Social, including a video allegedly showing the training.
It’s unclear whether the president was being sarcastic or was genuinely concerned about the mass-training of armed civilians. The training appeared disorganized with heavy shouting, and the video focused in on an overweight woman running with an AK-style rifle.
On Saturday, Caracas brought thousands of citizens in for a day of lessons on weapons handling and other “revolutionary resistance” tactics in response to Trump’s deployment of warships to the waters off Venezuela’s coast, AFP reported.
In another video allegedly of the civilian training, ordinary Venezuelas are seen handling guns and being guided by uniformed troops who can be heard telling participants to “aim at Trump.”
The ships first deployed about a month ago and are backed by a deployment of F-35 fighter jets in Puerto Rico. Their mission is to counter Venezuela’s drug operations, and the Navy has killed 14 narcoterrorists in at least two strikes on Venezuelan drug boats since Sept. 2.
Venezuela’s president has accused Trump of seeking regime change in his country with his amped-up military pressure, which the US leader has denied.
The US does not recognize Maduro’s leadership as legitimate and this summer placed a $50 million bounty on his head related to outstanding drug charges he faces in New York.
Most Venezuelans do not consider Maduro legitimately elected after stealing the past two elections, most recently in July 2024, according to a survey by global strategic advisory firm Panterra exclusively shared with The Post.
“The 70% of Venezuelans who are not ideologically aligned with the Maduro government feel a mix of hope for the future and fear over political repression,” Panterra said in a statement. “More than half believe Maduro will be removed from power in fewer than six months, including 36% who believe he will be gone in under 3 months.”
The survey, conducted Aug. 21-31, asked 1,200 participants on the ground in Venezuela their views on Caracas and Washington, which gave insight into the jaw-dropping unpopularity Trump has among Maduro supporters.
Among those who support Maduro, only six percent had favorable views of the United States — and just four percent had the same for Trump, according to the survey.
Alternatively, those against Maduro had much higher numbers, with 55% and 44% having favorable views of the US and Trump, respectively.
The survey also found that eight in 10 Venezuelans who do not support Maduro said their family who has immigrated to the US may return home to Venezuela if there were regime change.
“If the US supported regime change, [non-supporters of Maduro] believe Venezuelans abroad would return home and that a democratic Venezuela would give the US a strong ally in Latin America,” Panterra said.
