Washington, Dec 18. - US President Donald Trump announced in a televised address to the nation on Wednesday that he will grant a 'special bonus' called the 'warrior dividend' worth $1,776 to 1.45 million members of the Armed Forces. This symbolic figure references the year the country was founded. 'After rebuilding the US Armed Forces during my first term (2017-2021), and with the additions we are making now, we have the world's most powerful army,' Trump said in his speech, intended to highlight the achievements of his first year back in power at a time of low popularity in polls due to the high cost of living in the US. 'No one deserves it more than our armed forces,' Trump said, stating that the country now has a record number of enlistments, which he contrasted with what he called 'one of the worst recruitment figures in the history of our Army' during the last year of his predecessor Joe Biden's administration. Trump's speech comes after the Republican intensified pressure on the government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro yesterday, stating that he will block all sanctioned tankers carrying crude oil from the Caribbean nation. The US president, who in September ordered a massive military deployment in the Caribbean to stop what he says is drug trafficking financed by Caracas, stated yesterday that the Venezuelan government has stolen US oil fields and assets, apparently referring to expropriations carried out during Hugo Chávez's government. In turn, Trump has said in recent days that the US will soon begin ground attacks on drug trafficking groups on Venezuelan territory, although his own Chief of Staff, Susie Wiles, admitted in an interview published yesterday that the president would need authorization from Congress to take action in this regard. In any case, the New York magnate did not mention Venezuela even once in his speech today, a less than 15-minute address in which he highlighted his fight against immigration, the application of tariffs to other countries, or the reduction of inflation and the increase in wages, supposed achievements that he constantly repeats in his public appearances.
