Caracas, Venezuela – Headlines coming out of South America, like this headline from the BBC: “Now Venezuela is giving civilians guns” make it sound like Venezuelans are suddenly being armed and empowered, but don’t be fooled: this isn’t the Second Amendment at work. What’s unfolding in Caracas and beyond is a desperate move by Nicolás Maduro’s regime — using ordinary citizens as cannon fodder in a high-stakes standoff with the United States.
From “Militia” to Human Shields
After U.S. Navy strikes destroyed suspected drug-running boats earlier this month — killing at least 17 people — Venezuela’s Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino called it an “undeclared war.” In response, Maduro ordered his military to activate the Bolivarian National Militia, a force originally created by Hugo Chávez in 2009.
ON VIDEO: U.S. Military Forces conducted a strike against a designated terrorist organization engaged in narcotrafficking. Intelligence confirmed the vessel was trafficking illicit narcotics and was en route to poison Americans. The strike killed three male narcoterrorists. pic.twitter.com/wjxRRMrxwB
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) September 20, 2025
But this militia isn’t made up of trained, disciplined troops. As the BBC reported, many recruits are senior citizens or public-sector workers pressured into signing up. Some had never even handled a firearm until this month. State television broadcast images of people struggling to hold rifles, with fingers on the triggers and muzzles pointed at Associated Press photographers. At the same time, soldiers shouted commands and taught “resistance tactics” in the streets of Caracas.
This isn’t about empowering citizens with the right to self-defense — it’s about padding out body counts. Maduro’s “army of the people” is designed to make any speculated U.S. intervention look like a bloodbath.
Military Theater, Not a Citizens’ Right
Maduro has mobilized thousands into these neighborhood training camps. In Caracas’s Petare district, streets were shut down for drills on weapons handling, first aid, and “revolutionary resistance.”
“This is a true military revolution!” shouted Defense Minister Padrino during one of the events, according to the Associated Press. But the spectacle revealed the opposite of what Americans understand as a constitutional right. Venezuelans weren’t freely choosing to bear arms for their own protection. They were being herded, drilled, and propagandized to serve as shields for a dictatorship.
Trump, who redeployed naval forces to the Caribbean in what the U.S. calls a counter-narcotics operation, blasted out footage of the drills on Truth Social: “TOP SECRET: We caught the Venezuelan militia in training. A very serious threat!” One video showed a woman running clumsily with an AK-style rifle while troops barked orders to “aim at Trump.”
22 Sept 2025
TOP SECRET: We caught the Venezuelan Militia in training. A very serious threat! pic.twitter.com/Xn217KsJS8— ZoieZoe (@zoiezoe__) September 23, 2025
The Bigger Picture: Regime Survival
While Maduro rails about “oil, gold, diamonds — our resources,” polls show the majority of Venezuelans don’t buy it. According to Panterra research shared with The New York Post, more than half of Venezuelans expect Maduro to be gone within six months, and most consider his 2024 election a fraud.
Still, Maduro sees value in civilian militias. They create an illusion of nationwide loyalty, and they ensure any U.S. action will mean tragic headlines of “civilians killed.” It’s a grisly calculus — but one designed to keep him in power.
Why It’s Not the Second Amendment
American gun owners should recognize the distinction here. The Second Amendment guarantees individual citizens the right to keep and bear arms — to protect themselves, their families, and ultimately their freedom from government tyranny.
What’s happening in Venezuela is the opposite. Maduro’s government controls who gets the guns, decides how they are used, and demands loyalty in exchange. Civilians are not free citizens — they are tools of the state.
As one pro-government slogan painted on a Caracas wall puts it: “If you mess with Maduro, you mess with the neighborhood.” That’s not liberty. That’s dictatorship in camouflage.
