The dictator of Venezuela has taken a page out of President Donald Trump’s book.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was filmed dancing like the Republican president at a weekend rally.
Pumping his fists and swaying side to side, in Trumpian fashion, the South American dictator raised eyebrows with a dance similar to his US rival.
‘In a surprising move, Maduro is now doing the Trump dance,’ former Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz posted on X alongside a clip of the strongman’s jig.
Maduro was shuffling his feet, jumping and swinging his arms to a remix of his own past remarks denouncing conflict with the US.
‘No crazy, no crazy war no, no, no, no,’ the electronic dance music remix blared. Observers online speculate that AI generated the catchy tune. While addressing a group of students in the Venezuelan capital Caracas, Maduro called on the students in attendance to share his regime’s anti-war message.
‘President Trump’s signature moves and unmatched aura are often imitated, but never duplicated,’ White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly told the Daily Mail in a statement.
The calls for peace come as the US has ramped up its military presence in the region – the largest deployment in the Caribbean since the Cuban Missile Crisis – and American soldiers have been given orders to be ready for potential land strikes in Venezuela in the coming weeks.
‘SOUTHCOM is restricting / limiting leave over the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, in preparation for possible land strikes in the next 10 days to two weeks, I am told by a source,’ NewsNation’s Kellie Meyer reported on Monday.
The dispatch is the latest signal that American forces are eyeing operations within the South American country that the Trump administration claims is complicit in narco-terrorism.
In addition, the Trump administration designated a Maduro-linked group, Cartel de los Soles, as a terrorist organization on Monday.
The new designation ‘brings a whole bunch of new options to the United States,’ Pentagon boss Pete Hegseth said last week.
In existence since at least the 1990s, the cartel originally consisted of high-ranking Venezuelan military officials who profited from drug trafficking.
Today, the group consists of political leaders as well as Venezuelan government officials who are accused of a slew of illicit activities, from illegal mining to arms trafficking and money laundering.
Trump appeared open to striking Venezuela directly last week when pressed by reporters.
‘I don’t rule out anything,’ he said when asked about military action against the Maduro-led country.
Since August, US Southern Command has built up a major force consisting of thousands of troops and scores of ships and aircraft in the Caribbean. The effort is to combat Venezuelan narco-terrorism, the Trump administration claims.
Some analysts believe the ultimate goal of the pressure campaign is to push Maduro from power.
On November 16, the US’s largest operating aircraft carrier, the Gerald R. Ford, arrived in the Caribbean to reinforce the previously deployed troops, joining a sizable force that includes the military’s top tech, like F-35 fighter jets and a nuclear submarine.
Over the course of the past few months, US forces have bombed at least 20 alleged drug-running boats, killing over 80 people. The Trump administration has not provided any evidence that the targeted boats were carrying drugs.
Reports indicate that US covert operations within the South American country could be the first step to a larger conflict.
In August, the US raised the bounty on Maduro to $50 million.
