Venezuela launched on Saturday the defense plan ‘Independence 200’, mobilizing armed civilians, police, and military personnel in the eastern states of Anzoátegui, Monagas, and Bolívar, joining five other regions activated in recent days. The government cited “various threats” from the United States, which maintains a naval presence in the Caribbean Sea near the South American nation.

The Interior Minister, Diosdado Cabello, led the event in Monagas, explaining that the plan aims to prepare the population, police forces, and the National Bolivarian Armed Forces (FANB) to face the threats confronting the country. Cabello emphasized the need to assess strengths and weaknesses rigorously.

“These exercises are not about hiding in a trench and waiting to see what happens, nor expecting the enemy to tire themselves out. No, the enemy will wear down—but through our permanent harassment, denying them rest, driving them to despair, and appearing everywhere by any means,” he said.

The minister also called for active and prolonged resistance and a permanent offensive, warning that the “imperialist enemy has decided to direct all its weapons against the homeland of Simón Bolívar.”

President Nicolás Maduro confirmed via Telegram that the plan is active in Anzoátegui, Monagas, and Bolívar, describing the area as a vital corridor stretching from the Caribbean to the Orinoco River and the southern border with Brazil. He noted that the Integrated Defense Operational Zones (ZODI) will be activated state by state across the country, following the rollout in Carabobo, La Guaira, Aragua, Falcón, and Zulia.

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Minister of Defense Vladimir Padrino López stated that the exercises involve 27 tasks, including monitoring U.S. aerial campaigns, ensuring food and hospital reserves, maintaining community radio communications, defending cities and key access points, and patrolling ports.

While the U.S. defends its naval deployment as an operation against alleged Venezuelan drug trafficking, Maduro’s government insists it constitutes a threat aimed at promoting regime change.

Peruvian President José Jerí led a major prison inspection operation on Saturday aimed at fighting extortion and contract killings linked to organized crime, the National Penitentiary Institute (INPE) reported.

Hundreds of inmates were moved from their cells to the yard at the maximum-security Ancón I prison, where President Jerí arrived wearing a white shirt.

“By the president’s order, an extraordinary search has been conducted to combat crime, especially contract killings linked to organized crime,” said INPE chief Iván Paredes to the press.

“President Jerí has been clear: we must fight crime, and on his first day in office, the first thing he did was come here to supervise a prison raid,” Paredes added.

During his inauguration speech, Jerí emphasized that the fight against crime and organized crime is one of the country’s main challenges and called for immediate action.

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“The main enemy is outside, on the streets—the criminal gangs, the organized crime groups. They are today our enemies, and as enemies, we must declare war on them,” the president said.

Citizen insecurity led to the removal of former President Dina Boluarte by Congress on Friday.

The operation involved 200 officers and was carried out simultaneously in four prisons, including El Milagro in Trujillo, about 500 km north of Lima, and Challapalca in Tacna, located at 4,600 meters above sea level.

Peru has 68 prisons with an overpopulation of 102,000 inmates, according to INPE.

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Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado described her receipt of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize, awarded Friday by the Norwegian Nobel Committee, as an “achievement” and a “recognition” for the entire Venezuelan people.

“This is an achievement for all of society, I am just one person, I don’t deserve it,” Machado said in a phone call released by the Nobel Foundation, calling the award the “greatest recognition for our people.”

Minutes before the official announcement, Kristian Berg Harpviken, director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute, called Machado. She repeatedly exclaimed, “Oh my God!” and said with a choked voice, “I have no words.”

“I feel honored, overwhelmed, and very grateful on behalf of the Venezuelan people,” Machado added.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee highlighted her “tireless work in promoting democratic rights for the Venezuelan people” and “her fight for a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy,” though Machado remained cautious.

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“We have not arrived there yet, we are working hard to achieve it, and I am sure we will succeed. This is the greatest recognition for our people, who deserve it,” she said.

In a video lasting just over four minutes, Harpviken asked Machado to wait five minutes before sharing the news publicly, once the official announcement was made. “I think it will take me much longer to believe what I just heard,” Machado responded, reflecting her surprise at winning the Nobel Peace Prize.