Pete Hegseth, Mr Trump’s Pentagon chief, said last week that a new mission, codenamed Operation Southern Spear, would remove “narco-terrorists from our hemisphere”.
Amid the mounting American pressure against him, Mr Maduro was filmed singing part of John Lennon’s song Imagine during a political rally, urging his supporters “to do everything for peace, as John Lennon used to say”.
Mr Maduro, an authoritarian Left-wing leader, whom the US does not recognise as a legitimate president, then sang “imagine all the people”, accompanied by chords from the 1971 hit, and made the peace symbol with his hands.
The 62-year-old described the song as “an anthem for all eras and generations” and asked young people to study its lyrics. He said Lennon’s message was “an inspiration for all times” and called him “a gift for humanity”.
